Hi,

Due to the big changes in 4.0.1 (mana gone, ArP gone, welcome focus!) I think it would be good to discuss things about the MM hunter in a separate thread.
(Half of the Cataclysm changes/abilities are nnot yet avaibles, and 3.3 is way too old for the current state.)

So: This topic is only about lvl80 gearing, talenting, gemming, enchanting, raiding, shot-priorities.

Welcome, theorycrafters!

Ps: As the theorycraft goes on its way, I'll update this post.

1.) Talent

This is a good base for talents: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

There is 5 floating points which can be put into 4 DPS talents:
Pathing: 1% haste /point
Bestial Discipline: 10% more pet focus / point
One With Nature: 18 AP / point
Resistance is Futile: When it procs, you could cast a focus-free Kill Command.

2.) Glyphs

We now have 3 type of glyphs: Prime, Major, Minor.
From now we have to buy (and learn) a glyph only once, after we learned it we can use them any time we want.

Minor: The recommended one are the same as before:
[Glyph of Feign Death]
[Glyph of Mend Pet]
[Glyph of Revive Pet]

Major: It is very hard to find anything that helps us raiding, here is 4 of them which could be good, but that's the point with the biggest freedom.
[Glyph of Trap Launcher]: Reduces the focus cost of Trap Launcher by 10. (for AoE situations and/or CC.)
[Glyph of Mending]: Increases the healing done by your Mend Pet ability by an additional 3%. (Helps keep the pet alive.)
[Glyph of Misdirection]: When you use Misdirection to your pet, the cooldown on your Misdirection is reset. (It can be useful to transfer threat to pet, if FD is on CD.)
[Glyph of Disengage]: Faster moving -> win.

Prime: We have several choices, we have no closer theorycraft about them yet, but maybe these are the best:
[Glyph of Steady Shot]
[Glyph of Kill Shot]: If the damage from your Kill Shot fails to kill a target at or below 20% health, your Kill Shot's cooldown is instantly reset. This effect has a 6 sec cooldown.
[Glyph of Arcane Shot]: Your Arcane Shot deals 12% more damage on targets afflicted by your Serpent Sting.

These are thought to be a little weaker:
[Glyph of Aimed Shot]: When you critically hit with Aimed Shot, you instantly gain 5 Focus.
[Glyph of Chimera Shot]

There are 3 more which can be good, though not as good as the uppers:
[Dazzled Prey]: Your Steady Shot generates an additional 2 Focus on targets afflicted by a daze effect.
[Rapid Fire]: Increases the haste from Rapid Fire by an additional 10%.
[Serpent Sting]: Increases the periodic critical strike chance of your Serpent Sting by 6%.


3.) Shot priority

Our biggest priorites are to keep ISS buff on, to not waste any focus-regen (do NOT reach 100 focus), keep Serpent Sting on the target. cast instant Aimed Shot, keep HM or MfD on target.

If Hunter's Mark is not on target or running out and there's no Mark for Death on target and Mark for Death is not talented and focus/cooldowns/target health don´t allow for Kill Shot or Chimera shot
--> cast Hunter's Mark
If Kill Shot is off CD and target health is at or below 20%
--> cast Kill Shot
If Chimera Shot is off CD and got enough focus
--> cast Chimera Shot
If Master Marksman buff is up and focus won't overcap
--> cast Aimed Shot
If Serpent Sting is not on target and got enough focus
--> cast Serpent Sting
If Steady Shot won´t overcap focus and Imp. Steady Shot buff need refresh
--> cast Steady Shot
If enough focus to cast Arcane Shot now and still enough to cast Chimera Shot whenever it comes off CD
--> cast Arcane Shot
None of the above
--> cast Steady Shot

4.) Itemization

Our main stats are the following from the most important:

4.1 Hit
Hit capping is highly recommended however hit above the cap gives you no benefit. The hit cap for a hunter is 8% (247 hit rating), and you can subtract another 1% from Heroic Presence if you are a Draenei (Not anymore a group/raid buff). Note that pets do not get any from heroic presence, but generally this shouldn't impact your decision as to how to achieve your hit cap.
Pet hit will also round down, so being just slightly below the cap is usually worse than being slightly above.

4.2 Agility
Agility is one of the strongest stats for MM. It is recommended that agility be the primary stat gemmed for MM hunters (After you reached hit cap). Since agility's value isn't hugely above other stats it is often worth gemming agil/crit in yellow sockets as most yellow bonuses are worth picking up.

4.3 Mastery
It is increasing the chance for every shot to fire an additional shot for 115% weapon damage.
It isn't avaible on gear yet, there is no Mastery gems or enchants, reforging is the only way to get points in this stat.

4.4 Crit
Crit is generally a very solid stat for MM. It is especially valuable in increasing the proc rate of your Piercing Shots, which become extremely powerful at higher gear levels. You don't need to gem for it but as the best of the yellow stats available to MM (once hit capped) you may find it useful to gem agil/crit in yellow sockets to pick up most socket bonuses. Generally you don't need to be concerned about capping out on crit as MM (you need 104.8% crit before you max out on a boss).

4.5 Haste
With 4.0.1 the values of haste rating is a little bit more valuable than before.
The only shots affected by haste are autoshot and Steady shot), plus it increases our focus regeneration directly too.

5.) Pet

We place for 20 pets in our table, and we can keep 4 pets in out "bags", from where we can summon them with Call Pet. (Only one at a time.)
Pets do not give buffs, but inherit the following stats from the hunter:
- 100% hit (rounded down to the nearest integer)
- 100% crit
- 100% melee haste (Not Rapid fire and Pathing, for example.)
- 42.5% of hunter attack power
- 0% from hunter strength

Ferocity pets appear to scale at:
- 67% of hunter stamina
- 50% of hunter armor

Cunning pets appear to scale at:
- 72.5% of hunter stamina
- 60% of hunter armor

Tenacity pets appear to scale at:
- 78% of hunter stamina
- 70% of hunter armor

With the pet-revamp we can give almost any raid buffs with the right pet:
(Thanks for Malazee @ Petopia for the pictures)




Pet-damage is normalized, so every pet from the same type (Feroicity, Cunning, Tenacity) is doing the same damage. (Except the Exotic pets which are doing a little higher, but they are avaible only with BM 31pt talent.)

Tha base Feriocity talent will be likely this: Hunter Pet Calculator - Wowhead

6.) Professions

Note that since agility is stronger for MM than other stats, the professions which allow you to choose the stat of your choice give you the best benefit.

Highest DPS:
• Jewelcrafting: 3 improved gems for a potential 42 Agi gain
• Blacksmithing: 2 additional gem sockets for a potential 40 Agi gain
• Engineering: Engineering enchants are stacking with normal enchants, so you could get a Hyperspeed Accelerators (240 haste with 1 min CD) on gloves, a Nitro boost on boots, Flexweave Underlay (23 Agility rating) on cloak, Mind Amplification Dish (45 Stamina) on helmet over your standard enchants.

Good DPS:
• Alchemy: 80 AP bonus to flasks
• Enchanting: 2 40 AP enchants to ring for a potential 80 AP gain
• Inscription: improved shoulder enchant for an 80 AP gain
• Leatherworking: improved bracer enchant for an 80 AP gain
• Skinning: 40 Crit rating
• Tailoring: swordguard embroidery cloak enchant procs for 400 AP for 15 sec
• Herbalism: 240 haste for 20 seconds every 2 minutes.

Low DPS:
• Mining: 60 Stamina (no dps gain)

7.) Enchants

There are no new or changed enchants with 4.0.1, so the enchants stay the same as before:

• Helm: [Arcanum of Torment] (Knights of Ebon Blade rep)
• Shoulder: [Greater Inscription of the Axe] (Sons of Hodir rep or if you're a scribe you can use the improved shoulder enchant)
• Cloak: [Scroll of Enchant Cloak - Major Agility] (22 Agil from enchanters, or flexweave underlay if you're an engineer)
• Chest: [Scroll of Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats] (10 Stats from enchanters)
• Bracers: [Formula: Enchant Bracers - Greater Assault] (50 AP, or leatherworkers can use their improved bracer enchant, blacksmiths can also add an extra socket)
• Gloves: [Scroll of Enchant Gloves - Major Agility] (20 Agil) or [Scroll of Enchant Gloves - Precision] (20 Hit) if you're low on hit (from an enchanter, engineers can use the rocket or haste enchant, blacksmiths can also add an extra socket)
• Belt: [Eternal Belt Buckle] (add an extra socket created by BS, engineers can also use a frag belt enchant to throw bombs)
• Pants: [Icescale Leg Armor] (75 AP/22 crit created by LW, LW get a cheaper version)
• Boots: [Scroll of Enchant Boots - Superior Agility] (16 Agil) or [Scroll of Enchant Boots - Icewalker] (12 Hit/12 Crit) if you need the hit (from enchanters, engineers also can use the 24 crit rocket boots). If you want a run speed buff you can use [Formula: Enchant Boots - Cat's Swiftness] (6 Agil + runspeed) or [Formula: Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality] (15 Stam + runspeed)
• 2H Weapon: [Formula: Enchant 2H Weapon - Massacre] (110 AP) or [Formula: Enchant Weapon - Accuracy] (25 Hit/Crit) if you need hit (from enchanters)
• 1H Weapon: [Formula: Enchant Weapon - Accuracy] (25 Hit/Crit), [Formula: Enchant Weapon - Superior Potency] (65 AP) if you don't need hit (from enchanters)
• Ranged Weapon: [Heartseeker Scope] (40 Crit, crafted by engineers)

8.) Gems

• Meta: [Relentless Earthsiege Diamond] (requires 1 gem of each color to activate)
• Red Sockets: [Delicate Cardinal Ruby] if hit capped, [Glinting Dreadstone] (10 Agi/Hit) if not.
• Yellow Sockets: Use [Deadly Ametrine] (10 Agi/Crit) or [Deft Ametrine] (10 Agi/haste) unless the socket bonus is not worth getting in which case use [Delicate Cardinal Ruby].
• Blue Sockets: Use a [Rigid Majestic Zircon] (20 hit) or [Glinting Dreadstone] (10 Agi/Hit), if not hitcapped. If you are hitcapped, use [Delicate Cardinal Ruby].
(Nightmare Tear's are no longer good for us, since we got no AP from Stamina (Hunter vs. Wild SV talent removed.) or from Intellect (Careful Aim MM talent removed.).)

9.) Consumables

• With the remove of our mana [Flask of Endless Rage] (180 AP) is the very best choice to us.
• [Blackened Dragonfin] (40 Agil/Stam) is usually a noticable dps gain although on less challenging content using a fish feast will still be good and cheaper
• [Spiced Mammoth Treats] (30 Str/Stam for your pet) is recommended for maximum dps but [Kibler's Bits] (20 Str/Stam for your pet) is a suitable alternative for less challenging content
• [Potion of Speed] (500 Haste for 15 sec) is preferred for maximum dps.
• [Scroll of Strength VIII] is usable on our pet, since it doesn't get any buffs directly.

I believe that it has been posted in the Cata thread. PTR testing, none of our dots are affected by haste.

Corrected: Removed ArP from everywhere, removed about haste affects our DoTs, statas Heroic Presence as only self-buff.

But I don't find anything about any changea to our hitcap, SpartanKillian, could you give me a source? (As I'm not able to log in to PTR.)

I believe it is 248 hit rating now, instead of 263. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Yeah, this is correct. MMO confirms this 4.0.1 Hunters. 248 = 8% in 4.01.

Delete this please.

Some of your glyphs have old info. This is a list of all glyphs.

For primes, all but 3 are contenders for a raid DPS MM spec and that's just because 2 are for abilities MM won't use (Kill Command and Explosive Shot) and Dazzled Prey is against dazed targets, which I assume raid bosses are still immune to. Steady Shot and Arcane Shot look like they are givens, but the last choice doesn't seem as obvious.

Prime Glyphs

Aimed Shot - When you critically hit with Aimed Shot, you instantly gain 5 Focus.
Arcane Shot - Your Arcane Shot deals 12% more damage.
Chimera Shot - Reduces the cooldown of Chimera Shot by 1 sec.
Dazzled Prey - Your Steady Shot generates an additional 2 Focus on targets afflicted by a daze effect.
Explosive Shot - Increases the critical strike chance of Explosive Shot by 6%.
Kill Command - Reduces the Focus cost of your Kill Command by 3.
Kill Shot - If the damage from your Kill Shot fails to kill a target at or below 20% health, your Kill Shot's cooldown is instantly reset. This effect has a 6 sec cooldown.
Rapid Fire - Increases the haste from Rapid Fire by an additional 10%.
Serpent Sting - Increases the periodic critical strike chance of your Serpent Sting by 6%.
Steady Shot - Increases the damage dealt by Steady Shot by 10%.


For majors, there are tons of choices and none are straight up DPS increases. Disengage is likely to be a popular choice. Others might be good in less obvious ways, like Misdirection. If you are in a threat sensitive position, you could chain misdirect to your pet or you could do things like park your pet next to the gunship for Saurfang and then MD the Blood Beasts to it. Others that seem obvious aren't that great, like Silencing Shot. Multiple classes have received glyphs or talents that reward them for successfully interrupting, so you'll be competing with others, making it very difficult to get use out of the glyph.

Major Glyphs

Bestial Wrath - Decreases the cooldown of Bestial Wrath by 20 sec.
Concussive Shot - Increases the duration of your Concussive Shot by 2 sec.
Deterrence - Decreases the cooldown of Deterrence by 10 sec.
Disengage - Decreases the cooldown of Disengage by 5 sec.
Freezing Trap - When your Freezing Trap breaks, the victim's movement speed is reduced by 70% for 4 sec.
Ice Trap - Increases the radius of the effect from your Ice Trap by 2 yards.
Immolation Trap - Decreases the duration of the effect from your Immolation Trap by 6 sec., but damage while active is increased by 100%.
Master's Call - Increases the duration of your Master's Call by 4 sec.
Mending - Increases the healing done by your Mend Pet ability by an additional 3%.
Misdirection - When you use Misdirection to your pet, the cooldown on your Misdirection is reset.
Raptor Strike - Reduces damage taken by 20% for 5 sec after using Raptor Strike.
Scatter Shot - Increases the range of Scatter Shot by 3 yards.
Silencing Shot - When you successfully silence an enemy's spell cast with Silencing Shot, you instantly gain 10 focus.
Snake Trap - Snakes from your Snake Trap take 90% reduced damage from area of effect spells.
Trap Launcher - Reduces the focus cost of Trap Launcher by 10.
Wyvern Sting - Decreases the cooldown of your Wyvern Sting by 6 sec.


Minor Glyphs

Aspect of the Pack - Increases the range of your Aspect of the Pack ability by 15 yards.
Feign Death - Reduces the cooldown of your Feign Death spell by 5 sec.
Mend Pet - Your Mend Pet spell increases your pet's happiness slightly.
Revive Pet - Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Revive Pet by 100%.
Scare Beast - Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Scare Beast by 75%.

Considering the numbers of classes that can interrupt and can provide the raid bonus from TSA I seriously doubt it will be critical for a hunter to provide either of the two. More than likely the most critical thing a hunter will be bringing is his/her associated pet buff. Furthermore that is what dual spec is made for, you can have a 10 man spec, and a 25 man spec if buffs are quite important.

This spec that he provided from my point of view looks like it is focused solely on single target dps, hence less of an emphasis upon bombardment. (AOE talents).

Seeing that this is more for 4.0.1, a small note to make is that we will only have 4 "active" pets available to call at level 80. As of current build, the last Call Pet won't be trainable until 82.

I'm questioning the specc aswell. To me it seems like the "Resistance is Futile" is a completely wasted talent. And I wouldn't see kill command being used as MM anyways tbh.

Something that interested me though was the Concussive barrage talent+Dazzled prey glyph. Seeing as you have to pick between "Resistance is Futile", "Bombardment" or "Concussive Barrage" to get to the second last tier, and noone of them being a clean single target dps upgrade anyways. So what I am wondering is if the increase from the focus regen of SS (9 focus +2 from glyph = 11 focus per SS) is worth it? Only downside according to my knowledge, is that you'll "loose" a major glyph.

This is all speculation though as I am not a theorycrafter and have not tested enough on the PTR to find out. But I'm sure there are some of you out there that want to find this out?

The talent spec; RiF is silly to have for a lvl 80 spec. OwN is a bad choice for 3 talent points even at 85 and moreso with 5 points less (especially when you chose RiF, you should have gone for IKC). TSA is a musthave in a raidspec, with the option to spec out of it if others are bringing it. You definately want to put an extra point into bombardment for the aoe situations that still exists untill cata hits.
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft is a much better base with 5 points left over - my suggestion being BD(3/3) and Pathing, HvW or, OwN (due to lack of opening tier 2 of either subspec) for 2 points.