MoP Marksmanship Detailed Guide

 

Contents

11.0 Introduction 1.11.1 Acronyms and Abbreviations 22.0 Spells and Talents 2.12.1 Spells 2.1.12.1.1 General Hunter (Class) Spells 2.1.22.1.2 Marksmanship (Spec) Spells 2.22.2 Talents 2.2.12.2.1 Level 15 Talents 2.2.22.2.2 Level 30 Talents 2.2.32.2.3 Level 45 Talents 2.2.42.2.4 Level 60 Talents 2.2.52.2.5 Level 75 Talents 2.2.62.2.6 Level 90 Talents 33.0 Glyphs 3.13.1 Major Glyphs 3.23.1.1 Major Glyphs Recommendation 3.33.2 Minor Glyphs 3.43.2.1 Minor Glyphs Recommendation 44.0 Race 55.0 Stats 5.15.1 Range DPS 5.25.2 Agility DPS 5.35.3 Hit Chance and Rating 5.45.4 Dodge and Parry Chance and Expertise Rating 5.55.5 Attack Power (AP) 5.65.6 Critical Strike Chance and Rating 5.75.7 Mastery and Mastery rating 5.85.8 Haste and Haste Rating 5.8.15.8.1 Haste and Autoshot 5.8.25.8.2 Haste and Steady Shot 5.8.2.15.8.2.1 Haste and Steady Shot with AS as Focus Dump 5.8.35.8.3 Haste and Aimed Shot 5.8.45.8.4 Haste and Focus Regen 5.8.55.8.5 Haste and Dire Beast 5.8.65.8.6 Haste Calculations 66.0 Gear and Raid Preparation 6.16.1 Gems 6.26.2 Set Bonuses 6.2.16.2.1 T14 Set Bonuses 6.2.26.2.2 T15 Set Bonuses 6.2.36.2.3 T16 Set Bonuses 6.36.3 Consumables 6.46.4 Enchants 6.56.5 Optimizing Gear/Gems/Enchants/Reforges 77.0 Professions 88.0 Marksmanship Priorities and Rotations 8.18.1 Fight Phases 8.28.2 Additional Terms 8.38.3 Shot Priority 8.48.4 Shot Comparisons 8.4.18.4.1 Aimed Shot versus Arcane Shot As Focus Dump 8.4.28.4.2 Aimed Shot versus Chimera Shot Priority 8.4.38.4.3 Steady Shot Spamming vs. Arcane Shot outside the CA Phase 8.4.48.4.4 Other Shots to Potentially Skip During the CA Phase 8.58.5 Rotation Options 8.5.18.5.1 Standard Phase Rotation Options 8.5.1.18.5.1.1 Standard Phase Unhasted 8.5.1.1.18.5.1.1.1 Standard Phase Unhasted with AS as the Focus Dump 8.5.1.1.1.18.5.1.1.1.1 Standard Phase Unhasted, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 8.5.1.1.28.5.1.1.2 Standard Phase Unhasted with AI as the Focus Dump 8.5.1.28.5.1.2 Standard Phase During Bloodlust 8.5.1.2.18.5.1.2.1 Standard Phase During Bloodlust with AS as the Focus Dump 8.5.1.2.1.18.5.1.2.1.1 Standard Phase During BL, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 8.5.1.2.28.5.1.2.2 Standard Phase During BL with AI as the Focus Dump 8.5.1.38.5.1.3 Standard Phase During Rapid Fire 8.5.1.3.18.5.1.3.1 Standard Phase During Rapid Fire with AS as the Focus Dump 8.5.1.3.1.18.5.1.3.1.1 Standard Phase Rapid Fire, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 8.5.1.3.28.5.1.3.2 Standard Phase During Rapid Fire with AI as the Focus Dump 8.5.1.3.2.18.5.1.3.2.1 Standard Phase Rapid Fire, AI Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 8.5.28.5.2 Careful Aim (CA) Phase Rotation Options 8.5.2.18.5.2.1 CA Phase Unhasted 8.5.2.1.18.5.2.1.1 CA Phase Unhasted with AI as the Focus Dump 8.5.2.1.1.18.5.2.1.1.1 CA Phase Unhasted, AI Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 8.5.2.28.5.2.2 CA Phase During Bloodlust 8.5.2.2.18.5.2.2.1 CA Phase During Bloodlust with AI as the Focus Dump 8.5.2.2.1.18.5.2.2.1.1 CA Phase During BL, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 8.5.2.38.5.2.3 CA Phase During Rapid Fire 8.5.2.3.18.5.2.3.1 CA Phase During Rapid Fire with AI as the Focus Dump 8.5.2.3.1.18.5.2.3.1.1 CA Phase Rapid Fire, AI Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 8.5.38.5.3 Kill Shot Phase Rotation Options 8.5.3.18.5.3.1 Kill Shot Phase Unhasted 8.5.3.1.18.5.3.1.1 KS Phase Unhasted with AS as the Focus Dump 8.5.3.1.1.18.5.3.1.1.1 KS Phase Unhasted, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 8.5.3.1.28.5.3.1.2 KS Phase Unhasted with AI as the Focus Dump 8.5.3.28.5.3.2 KS Phase During Bloodlust 8.5.3.2.18.5.3.2.1 KS Phase During Bloodlust with AS as the Focus Dump 8.5.3.2.1.18.5.3.2.1.1 KS Phase During BL, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 8.5.3.2.28.5.3.2.2 KS Phase During BL with AI as the Focus Dump 8.5.3.38.5.3.3 Kill SHot Phase During Rapid Fire 8.5.3.3.18.5.3.3.1 Standard Phase During Rapid Fire with AS as the Focus Dump 8.5.3.3.1.18.5.3.3.1.1 KS Phase Rapid Fire, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 8.5.3.3.28.5.3.3.2 KS Phase During Rapid Fire with AI as the Focus Dump 8.5.3.3.2.18.5.3.3.2.1 KS Phase Rapid Fire, AI Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P 99.0 Pets 9.19.1 Pet Statistics 9.29.2 Pet Specs 9.2.19.2.1 Ferocity Pet Spec 9.2.29.2.2 Cunning Pet Spec 9.2.39.2.3 Tenacity Pet Spec 9.39.3 Pet Types and Buffs/Debuffs 9.49.4 Pet Attacks 9.4.19.4.1 Pet Auto Attack 9.4.29.4.2 Pet Basic Attack 9.4.39.4.3 Pet Special Attack 1010.0 Other Information 10.110.1 Movement 10.210.2 Tools and References 1111.0 History

[top]1.0 Introduction

This is a compendium of information on raiding as a Marksmanship Hunter in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. It contains everything a beginner needs to achieve basic competence at raid DPS, as well more detailed discussion for people more interested in understanding the theory or more advanced play. This guide is designed to provide information for raiding (PvE). It is not meant to be a complete or accurate source for PvP, soloing, or dungeons.

This guide will be updated as gear level progresses and Blizzard changes the game to attempt to be up to the current end game raiding. This guide is currently updated for MoP release and the subsequent 5.2 patch (which is still in work).

Post any comments/requests/contributions specific to this guide as a comment on this thread (please ensure it's not something already covered here) with following all EJ forum rules. If you find any typos or other minor editorials that do not affect the content, please send me a private message with the error instead.

[top]1.1 Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronym	Definition
Agi	Agility
AI	Aimed Shot
AotC or Cheetah	Aspect of the Cheetah
AotH or Hawk	Aspect of the Hawk
AotIH or Iron Hawk	Aspect of the Iron Hawk
AotP or Pack	Aspect of the Pack
AP	Attack Power
AS	Arcane Shot
Auto	Auto Shot
BL	Bloodlust or Heroism
BiS	Best-in-Slot
Bomb	Bombardment
BM	Beastmastery
BiS	Binding Shot
BS	Blink Strike
CA	Careful Aim
Camo	Camouflage
CB	Concussive Barrage
CC	Crowd Control
CD	Cooldown
CoS	Cobra Shot
Crit	Critical Strike
CS	Chimera Shot
CTHC	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimera
DPF	Damage Per Focus
DPS	Damage Per Second
DoT	Damage over Time
DS	Distracting Shot
ET	Phone Home or Explosive Trap
Exp	Expertise
FD	Feign Death or Female Dwarf
FPS	Focus Per Second
FT	Freezing Trap
GCD	Global Cooldown
HM	Hunter's Mark
HPS	Health Per Second
Ilevel or Ilvl	Item Level
IT	Ice Trap
KC	and the Sunshine Band or Kill Command
KS	Kill Shot
LA	Lightning Arrow
LoS	Line of Sight
MC	Master’s Call
MD	Misdirection
MM	Marksmanship
MMM	Master Marksman
MoP	Mists of Pandaria
MS	Multishot
PH	Posthaste
PS	Piercing Shots
PvE	Player versus Environment
PvP	Player versus Player
RF	Rapid Fire
RoR	Roar of Recovery
RR	Rapid Recuperation
s	seconds
SB	Spirit Bond or Scare Beast
SF	Steady Focus
SilS	Silencing Shot
Spec	Talent Specialization
SS	Steady Shot
ST	Snake Trap
Sta	Stamina
SV	Survival
T	Tier or Time
TH	Thunderhawk
TL or Launcher	Trap Launcher
TotH	Thrill of the Hunt
TS or Tranq	Tranquilizing Shot
TSA	Trueshot Aura
WoW	World of Warcraft
WQ	Wild Quiver
WS	Wyvern Sting
WV or Venom	Widow Venom

[top]2.0 Spells and Talents

[top]2.1 Spells

MM hunter spells fall into two groups – general hunter (class) spells and MM (spec) spells. The following sections discuss these spells.

Hunter spells also fall into two categories – active or passive. Active spells are those that must be performed and require the use of an ability. Passive spells are those that apply to your character at all times or during the conditions specified by the spell.

[top]2.1.1 General Hunter (Class) Spells

The general hunter spells are all gained as you level. As an end-game raiding hunter, you have all of the general hunter spells already. The table below lists all of the general hunter spells. Unless specified otherwise, all abilities with “shot” in their name or description require the hunter to be within a 40 yard range from the target to be cast.

Level	Spell	Use	Focus Cost	Definition
1	Arcane Shot	Instant	20	A shot that does Arcane damage.
1	Auto Shot	Instant	-	Automatically shoots the target doing physical damage until cancelled. Auto Shot is performed at the rate of your weapon speed modified by haste effects. Auto Shot continues while moving but will temporarily stop if you are facing away from the target or under other conditions, such as being stunned. Some cast or channel abilities lock out Auto Shot during its duration.
1	Call Pet 1	Instant	-	Summons the first pet in your mobile stable to you.
1	Control Pet	Passive	-	Allows you to give commands (e.g., stay, follow, attack) to your pet.
1	Fetch	0.1s cast	-	Retrieves the loot from a nearby corpse within 50 yards from the hunter. You only have this ability if you have the Glyph of Fetch active.
1	Fireworks	2.5s cast	-	Launch fireworks from your ranged weapon. 10s CD. You only have this ability if you have the Glyph of Fireworks active.
1	Focused Aim	Passive	-	Reduces the pushback suffered by damaging attacks by 70% when casting SS or CoS.
1	Revive Pet	6s cast	35	Returns your pet to life with 100% of its base health.
1	Symbosis	Instant	-	When Symbosis is cast on you by a Druid, this button is replaced by the ability you temporarily learn. Currently, regardless of the tree of the Druid, all hunters gain Dash.
1	Dash (from Symbosis)	Instant	-	Removes all roots and snares and increases movement speed by 70% for 15s. 3 min CD.
3	Steady Shot	2s cast	-	A shot that does physical damage and generates 14 focus.
4	Tracking	Passive	-	Allows the tracking of various creature types. Activated via the tracking interface.
8	Concussive Shot	Instant	-	Dazes the target, slowing its movement speed by 50% for 6s. Has a 5s CD.
10	Beast Lore	Instant	-	Gather information about the targeted beast that will appear in the tooltip. Reveals whether the beast is tameable and what abilities the tamed creature has.
10	Serpent Sting	Instant	25	A shot that does Nature damage to the target over 15s. The DoT ticks 5 times at 3s, 6s, 9s, 12s, and 15s, with each tick doing 1/5th of the base damage. Refreshing Serpent Sting before it runs out (either by recasting it or using Chimera Shot) resets the duration to 15s plus how many seconds are left until the next tick. Hence, if you have 2 or 1 seconds left until the next tick, the refreshed duration of Serpent Sting is 17 or 16 seconds, respectively. Thus, while Serpent Sting is maintained on the target, it will always tick on a multiple of 3s from when the initial cast was performed.
10	Tame Beast	Channeled	-	Begins taming a beast within 30 yards to be your companion. The taming fails if you lose the beast’s attention for any reason, such as it mauling you to death.
11	Dismiss Pet	2s cast	-	Sends your pet to the mobile stable, allowing you to summon a new pet.
11	Feed Pet	Instant	-	Feed your pet the selected item, instantly restoring 50% of its total health. The selected item must be a food type that the pet eats. The pet must also be with 10 yards, and you must be out of combat. The ability has a 10s CD.
12	Aspect of the Hawk	Instant	-	Increases ranged AP by 10%. Only one aspect can be used at a time.
14	Disengage	Instant	-	Leap backwards, disengaging from combat. Can only be used in combat. 25s CD.
14	Hunter’s Mark	Instant	-	Places the Hunter's Mark on the target, increasing ranged damage of all attackers against that target by 5%. The target can always be seen by the Hunter whether it stealths or turns invisible. The target also appears on the mini-map. Lasts for 5 min. 100 yard range.
15	Scatter Shot	Instant	-	A short-range shot that deals damage and disorients the target for 4 sec. Any damage caused removes the effect. Turns off your auto attack when used. 20 yard range.
16	Eagle Eye	Channeled	-	Zooms in the hunter’s vision. Only usable outdoors and lasts 1 min.
16	Mend Pet	Instant	-	Heals your pet for 25% of its total health over 10s. 45 yard range.
18	Call Pet 2	Instant	-	Summons the second pet in your mobile stable to you.
24	Aspect of the Cheetah	Instant	-	Increases movement speed by 30%. If the Hunter is struck, he will be dazed for 4 sec. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
24	Multi-Shot	Instant	40	Fires several missiles, hitting your current target and all enemies within 8 yards of that target.
28	Freezing Trap	Instant	-	Place a trap that freezes the first enemy that approaches, preventing all action for up to 1 min. Any damage caused breaks the ice. Only one target can be Freezing Trapped at a time. Trap will exist for 1 min. 30s CD. Shares a CD with Ice Trap.
30	Aspect of the Beast	Instant	-	The hunter becomes untrackable. Only one Aspect can be active at a time. You only have this ability if you have the Glyph of the Aspect of the Beast active.
32	Feign Death	Instant	-	Pretend to be dead, tricking enemies into ignoring you. Lasts up to 6 mins. 30s CD.
35	Kill Shot	Instant	-	You attempt to finish the wounded target off, firing a 45 yard range attack. Kill Shot can only be used on enemies that have 20% or less health. If Kill Shot fails to kill the target, the 10s cooldown is instantly reset, but cannot be reset more often than once every 6 sec.
35	Tranquilizing Shot	Instant	20	Attempts to remove 1 enrage and 1 magic effect from the enemy target.
36	Scare Beast	1.5s cast	25	Scares a beast within 30 yard range, causing it to run in fear for up to 20 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Only one beast can be feared at a time.
38	Explosive Trap	Instant	-	Place a fire trap that explodes when an enemy approaches and burns all enemies within 10 yards for additional Fire damage over 20 sec. Trap will exist for 1 min.
38	Flare	Instant	-	Exposes all hidden and invisible enemies within 10 yards of the targeted area for 20 sec.
39	Trueshot Aura	Passive	-	Grants 10% increased melee and ranged attack power to all party and raid members within 100 yards.
40	Widow Venom	Instant	15	Reduces the effectiveness of any healing taken by the target for 30s.
42	Call Pet 3	Instant	-	Summons the third pet in your mobile stable to you.
46	Ice Trap	Instant	-	Place a frost trap that creates an ice slick around itself for 30 sec when the first enemy approaches it. All enemies within 10 yards are slowed by 50% while in the area of effect. Trap will exist for 1 min. 30s CD. Shares a CD with Freezing Trap.
48	Trap Launcher	Instant	-	While active, traps are launched to a target location within 40 yards. Active until cancelled. 1.5s CD. This ability requires two clicks – one to activate the trap and one to place to where it will be launched.
52	Distracting Shot	Instant	-	Distracts the target to attack you, but has no effect if the target is already attacking you. Lasts 6 sec. 8s CD.
54	Rapid Fire	Instant	-	Increases ranged attack speed by 40% for 15s. 3 min CD.
56	Aspect of the Pack	Instant	-	Party and raid members within 40 yards have increased movement speed by 30%. If you are struck under the effect of this aspect, you will be dazed for 4 sec. Only one aspect can be active at a time.
60	Readiness	Instant	-	Immediately finishes the CD of all Hunter abilities with a CD of less than 5 mins. This does not apply to trinkets, proc items, or pet abilities.
62	Call Pet 4	Instant	-	Summons the fourth pet in your mobile stable to you.
66	Snake Trap	Instant	-	Place a nature trap that releases several venomous snakes to attack the first enemy to approach. The snakes die after 15 sec. Trap will exist for 1 min. 30s CD.
74	Master’s Call	Instant	-	Your pet attempts to remove all root and movement impairing effects from itself and its target, and causes your pet and its target to be immune to all such effects for 4 sec. 45s CD.
76	Misdirection	Instant	-	The current raid member targeted will receive the threat caused by your next damaging attack and all actions taken for the next 4 seconds. The transferred threat is not permanent and fill fade after 30s.
78	Deterrence	Instant	-	When activated, causes you to deflect melee attacks, ranged attacks, and spells, and reduces all damage taken by 30%. While Deterrence is active, you cannot attack. Lasts 5 sec. 2 min CD.
82	Call Pet 5	Instant	-	Summons the fifth pet in your mobile stable to you.
83	Aspect of the Fox	Instant	-	Can shoot Steady Shot, Cobra Shot, and Barrage while moving and gain 2 Focus whenever receives a melee attack. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
85	Camouflage	Instant	20	You blend into your surroundings, causing you and your pet to be untargetable by ranged attacks. Also reduces the range at which enemy creatures can detect you, and provides stealth while stationary. You can lay traps while camouflaged, but any damage done by you or your pet cancels the effect. If cast while in combat, lasts for 6 sec. Otherwise, lasts for 1 min. 1 min CD.
87	Stampede	Instant	-	Summons all of your pets in your mobile stable to fight your current target within 30 yards for 20 sec. For unusable stable slots, copies of your current pet is used.

[top]2.1.2 Marksmanship (Spec) Spells

The Marksmanship spells are all gained as you level as well. As an end-game raiding hunter, you have all of the Marksmanship spells already. The table below lists all of the Marksmanship spells. Unless specified otherwise, all abilities with “shot” in their name or description require the hunter to be within a 40 yard range from the target to be cast.

Level	Spells	Use	Focus Cost	Definition
10	Aimed Shot	2.9s cast	50	A powerful aimed shot doing physical damage. Auto Shot is suppressed during the cast. When Master Marksman is fully stacked, cast time is instant and focus cost is free. When Careful Aim is active, Aimed Shot has 75% bonus crit chance.
20	Careful Aim	Passive	-	Increases the critical strike chance of your Steady Shot and Aimed Shot by 75% on targets that are above 80% health.
30	Concussive Barrage	Passive	-	Your successful Chimera Shot and Multi-Shot attacks daze the target for 4 sec.
45	Bombardment	Passive	-	When you critically hit with Multi-Shot, your Multi-Shot's Focus cost is reduced by 50% and Multi-Shots damage is increased by 30% for 5 sec.
46	Rapid Recuperation	Passive	-	You gain 12 Focus every 3 sec while under the effect of Rapid Fire. This is equivalent to 4 FPS and means that you gain 60 extra focus during each Rapid Fire duration.
58	Master Marksman	Passive	-	You have a 50% chance when you Steady Shot to gain the Master Marksman effect, lasting 30 sec. After reaching 3 stacks, your next Aimed Shot's cast time and Focus cost are reduced by 100% for 10 sec.
60	Chimera Shot	Instant	45	Shot that causes Nature damage, refreshing the duration of your Serpent Sting, and healing you for 3% of your total health.
63	Steady Focus	Passive	-	When you Steady Shot twice in a row, your ranged attack speed is increased by 15%, and your Steady Shot generates 3 additional Focus for 20 sec. Note that since this ability provides attack speed and not haste that your focus regen rate is unaffected by it.
72	Piercing Shots	Passive	-	Your critical Aimed, Steady, and Chimera Shots cause the target to bleed for 30% of the damage dealt over 8 sec. This damage ticks off every second. This is essentially an additional 30% damage bonus to your crits. This is how PS works with assuming for simplicity that all shots that proc PS do 100K damage. When the first PS procs, 30K damage is set up to tick off every second for 8s at 3750 (=30K/ 8) damage per tick. If no other PS proc occurs within that 8s, the PS bleed will fall off the target at the end of the 8s. If a second PS proc occurs before the first PS proc expires, the PS effect is recalculated using the full amount for the current proc and the remaining amount of the existing proc. Hence, if the first proc had ticked 4 times, it still had 15K damage to go. The amount of the new tick is calculated by adding the new and remaining damage together and dividing by 8. Thus, in this scenario, the new tick would be (30K + 15K) / 8 = 5625. Hence, you will only see changes in your PS amount when either a proc occurs (causing a step change in the amount of the ticks) or the tick falls off. The step change when a proc occurs can either be a step up or down in damage depending on the relative damage of the new proc to previous procs and the number of ticks remaining.
80	Mastery:Wild Quiver	Passive	-	Grants a 16% chance for your ranged attacks to also instantly fire an additional ranged shot. The percent chance is increased by your mastery level.

[top]2.2 Talents

The available talent choices are not specific to an MM hunter. The choices are available to all hunters. However, the talents can be affected differently for each spec due to the spells for that spec. As such, the best choice for one spec may not be the best choice for another. Furthermore, some choices are optional choices dependent on their utility for your raid and your preferences. The choices may also be dependent on your gearing, buffs, and raid strategies. Hence, the choices below are suggestions.

At every 15th level, the hunter is provided a choice between 3 talents, each of which provides the hunter with a new spell. Thus, at level 90, a hunter has 6 chosen talents.

The hunter talent options at each level and the recommended choice are provided in subsequent sections. The table below provides a summary of the recommended talents. Note that these are the general choices and that other choices may be better in certain situations. Plus, the best choice can change with changes to the game or with gear scaling.

Level	Recommended Talent
15	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimera
30	Silencing Shot
45	Aspect of the Iron Hawk
60	Dire Beast
75	A Murder of Crows
90	Glaive Toss

[top]2.2.1 Level 15 Talents

The talent choices at level 15 are:

Spell	Use	Focus Cost	Definition
Posthaste	Passive	-	Your Disengage frees you from all movement impairing effects and increases your movement speed by 60% for 8 sec.
Narrow Escape	Passive	-	When you Disengage, you also activate a web trap which encases all targets within 8 yards in sticky webs, preventing movement for 8 sec.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimera	Passive	-	Reduces the cooldown of Disengage by 10 sec to 15s, and the cooldown of Deterrence by 60 sec to 60s.

All 3 of these spells are passive talents involving the use of Disengage. All are viable options depending on the situation. Posthaste is great in high movement fights with large movements or in fights where you need to break movement impairing abilities. However, Master’s Call already helps us to remove moving impairing effects. Plus, if a druid casts Symbosis on us, Dash provides the same benefit, albeit on a 3 min CD. Narrow Escape is useful in CC situations.

My general recommendation though is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimera, and not just because MM hunters use Chimera Shot. This is because CTHC also affects Deterrence. Both Disengage and Deterrence have significant raid utility. The former helps in movement, the latter helps reduce or avoid damage, increasing survivability and reducing healing needs. CTHC’s benefit of reducing the CD of Disengage by 40% and Deterrence by 50%, results in more potential uses of both abilities. Of course, there are still situations where choosing either of the other talents instead may be beneficial.

Recommendation: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimera

[top]2.2.2 Level 30 Talents

The talent choices at level 30 are:

Spell	Use	Focus Cost	Definition
Silencing Shot	Instant	-	A shot that silences the target and interrupts spellcasting for 3 sec. 20s CD.
Wyvern Sting	Instant	10	A stinging shot that puts the target to sleep for 30 sec. Any damage cancels the effect. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on the target at a time. 1 min CD.
Binding Shot	Instant	20	You fire a magical projectile, tethering the enemy and any other enemies within 5 yards of the landing arrow for 10 sec. If targets move 5 yards from the arrow they are stunned for 5 sec and are immune to the effects of Binding Shot for 10 sec. 30 yard range and 60s CD.

All 3 of these spells provide a new utility shot. Silencing Shot is nice since it is a ranged interrupt/silence and timely casts can be important to raid strategy and/or reduce adverse effects on the raid. However, there are also many better ranged interrupts available in most raids. Wyvern Sting provides another form of CC and may be useful doing dungeons; however, for raids, its benefit is lessened due to all of the forms of CC available and since we also have traps to CC. However, Wyvern Sting is a much more reliable form of CC than traps since you are guaranteed to hit your intended target. Binding Shot is useful for AoE CC, but MM hunters have other forms with IT and CB. However, there are indeed situations where Binding Shot is very useful for keeping mobs off the raid team and not having to worry about CC breaks. Thus, the general choice is Silencing Shot, although the other abilities may be better in some situations.

Recommendation: Silencing Shot

[top]2.2.3 Level 45 Talents

The talent choices at level 45 are:

Spell	Use	Focus Cost	Definition
Exhilaration	Passive	-	Instantly heals you for 30% and your pet for 100% of total health. 2 min CD.
Aspect of the Iron Hawk	Instant	-	Increases ranged attack power by 10%, and reducing all damage taken by 15%. Only one Aspect can be active at a time. Replaces Aspect of the Hawk.
Spirit Bond	Passive	-	While your pet is active, you and your pet will regenerate 2% of total health every 2 sec.

The theme of the level 45 talent choices is self-healing or damage reduction. Exhilaration is nice on fights where you need a large, instant self-heal to survive and reduce the strain on the healers. For average healing though, it only equates to about 0.25% HPS when used on CD. In terms of average healing, Spirit Bond is 4 times better at 1% HPS. Thus, for fights with continuous low damage or infrequent larger damage, Spirit Bond helps keep both you and your pet alive. Iron Hawk is nice in that it reduces all incoming damage by 15%. It is nice for situations with frequent large damage effects. Any of the three talent choices are fine. But the general recommendation is Aspect of the Iron Hawk since it is proactive and reduces damage taken, resulting in you probably surviving more often, while the other abilities are helpful after the fact and only if you survived. However, there will be boss fights where choosing either of the other two spells may be better.

Furthermore, with Chimera Shot providing 5% damage healed every 9s, it already provides roughly 0.56% HPS, reducing the benefit of Spirit Bond for MMs.

Recommendation: Aspect of the Iron Hawk

[top]2.2.4 Level 60 Talents

The talent choices at level 60 are:

Spell	Use	Focus Cost	Definition
Fervor	Instant	-	Instantly restores 50 Focus to you and your pet and an additional 50 Focus over 10 sec. 30s CD.
Dire Beast	Instant	-	Summons a powerful wild beast to attack your target for 15 sec. Each time the beast deals damage, you gain 5 focus. 30s CD.
Thrill of the Hunt	Passive	-	You have a 15% chance when you fire a ranged attack that costs Focus or Kill Command to reduce the focus cost of your next 3 Arcane Shots or Multi-Shots by 20.

The theme of the level 60 talent choices is being able to perform more specials, either via increased focus or reduced focus cost. All of these are significant DPS talents, as such there will be a lot more discussion of these choices.

Fervor has the potential to be a strong talent since it provides 100 focus basically on demand, but not all at once. If used on CD, it is equivalent to 3.33 FPS. This equates to enough focus to cast almost 3 extra AIs or almost 5 extra ASs every minute. Of course, this talent is not as useful if it just results in wasted focus. Remember that the CS cycle is now 9s and that Steady Focus only requires a SS pair every 10s. Hence, the CS cycle only needs 2 SSs in it, unlike the 4 in Cata. However, each SS also generates more focus at 17 per shot (when Steady Focus is active) than 9. If only doing the minimum number of SSs per CS cycle and accounting for Fervor providing on average about 30 focus per cycle, I estimate that roughly 10 FPS regen is required for a balanced CS cycle. If you account for the focus savings from MMM AI procs, then the required focus regen is about 9 FPS. Thus, Fervor should currently result in useful focus, and even with using it you will still need to perform a 3rd SS on some CS cycles to balance focus. To be safe, it is best to use Fervor after a significant dump in focus.

Considering that MM hunters have Bombardment, with Fervor used during AoE, you can expect to consistently perform 9 consecutive MSs if use Fervor after the 2nd MS.

The other benefit of Fervor is that it increases your pet’s focus too, increasing its DPS.

Dire Beast does 8 attacks normally under no haste effects. Hence, this ability usually provides 40 every 30s if used on CD for an equivalent of 1.33 FPS, but it can provide even more focus and damage if used while hasted. With just the 10% raid haste buff, Dire Beast performs an extra 9th attack. With the 10% haste raid buff and 9.092% haste on gear, Dire Beast performs 10 attacks per use. This increases Dire Beasts’s damage and increases the focus benefit to 50 focus per use or 1.67 FPS. Focus-wise, it provides about half the focus of Fervor with none of the focus benefiting our pet like Fervor does. To try to make up for the focus loss, this ability increases your damage done. The question is whether the damage done makes up for the reduced focus amount. The answer to that depends on how much of the focus generated by Fervor is really needed, and the answer can change with gearing. The current simulations show that with how MM hunters do so much more damage than our pets and how much damage Dire Beast does itself, that Dire Beast is a better talent than Fervor.

Thrill of the Hunt saves focus. TotH is also potentially a big DPS gain, but only in the proper situations. Since the focus savings only affects AS and MS, its benefits are only useful when we are using AS as our focus dump or in AoE situations. First, let us look at single target situations. Using a binomial distribution, on average we should see a proc every 4 to 5 ranged attacks that cost focus. Since the maximum DPS cycle with AS that still balances focus does on average a little more that 5 focus costing shots per CS cycle, you can expect that a proc would occur on average once per cycle. But the rub is that when you get a proc your next few shots either no longer cost focus or have a chance to reproc before using all the procs. If your CS or level 75 or 90 talents are coming off CD before the proc is fully consumed, it has a chance to reproc and lose the unused charges from the previous proc. More impactive is that the next 3 ASs performed cost no focus, and therefore, do not provide new opportunities for a proc. Hence, 3 of the about 5 shots that could cause the next proc that cycle now cost no focus and greatly reduce the chance to have a proc that cycle. Therefore, it is much more likely that you will get about on average a proc every other cycle when also factoring in the chance of a reproc wasting charges. Even with assuming a proc every other CS cycle, it saves 60 focus every two cycles since it reduces 3 ASs from costing 20 focus to costing 0 focus. With 18 to 19s for 2 CS cycles, this is an equivalent of 3.16 to 3.33 FPS. This makes this ability roughly equivalent to Fervor at its average case, but only if using an AS rotation. One factor to recall though is that you choose when to use Fervor and can choose to use it such that you reduce the possibility of wasting its focus benefits by overcapping. Even with Fervor in a macro, if you design your shot selections around when Fervor will be available for use, then you can prevent overcapping. Furthermore, Fervor also provides focus to the pet. TotH on the other hand occurs at random and can proc on top of a proc. Hence, the proc can occur at a bad time when you are already high on focus and may result in overcapping, wasting some of its benefit.

For AoE situations, Thrill of the Hunt is incredibly powerful. Combined with Bombardment, an AoE fight with TotH could start with 7 consecutive MSs in the following scenario: MS (40 focus and Bomb proc)-MSx3 (20 focus each since during Bomb and probable proc of TotH)-MS (focus free)-MS (20 focus due to TotH and new Bomb proc)-MS (focus free). In the theoretically lucky case of getting TotH procs on the first possible MS cast each time, you can potentially be able to cast 12 consecutive MSs if starting with 100 focus.

Fervor and Thrill of the Hunt are more directly comparable. Although Thrill of the Hunt can provide equivalent hunter focus to Fervor in the right situation, Fervor has a few advantages that makes it a better choice:
- It also provides focus to your pet increasing its DPS.
- It is useful regardless of whether you are performing an AS or AI focus dump cycle.
- It is on-demand, consistent focus gains that can be used when needed as opposed to random procs that may not occur at ideal times and which could result in wasted focus and possibly having to use extra SSs to make up for the lost focus.

Hence, Fervor is recommended over Thrill of the Hunt, but Dire Beast is currently recommended slightly over Fervor.

Recommendation: Dire Beast

[top]2.2.5 Level 75 Talents

The talent choices at level 75 are:

Spell	Use	Focus Cost	Definition
A Murder of Crows	Instant	60	Summons a flock of crows to attack your target over the next 30 sec. If used on a target below 20% health, the cooldown is reduced to 60 seconds. 2 min CD.
Blink Strike	Instant	-	Causes your pet to instant teleport behind a target up to 40 yards away from your pet and inflict 200% normal damage. 100 yard range. 20s CD.
Lynx Rush	Instant	-	Your pet rapidly charges from target to target, attacking 9 times over 4 sec, dealing its normal attack damage to each target. The pet must be within 10 yards of the target to Lynx Rush. 1.5 min CD.

The theme of the level 75 talents is relying on creatures to perform extra damage for you. These are all new abilities that continue to be balanced. The current information I have seen on each spell is below.

A Murder of Crows applies a DoT to the target that does 30 attacks over the 30s. Since MoC acts like a DoT, the attacks do not scale with haste. In addition, if the target dies before the 30s duration is over, the crows do not transfer to a new target. Thus, if you are about to switch targets in less than 20 to 25s, I would suggest waiting to cast MoC until after switching targets. In addition, since refreshing a DoT just extends its duration, when using MoC after Readiness, it is best to wait for the previous cast of MoC to complete before performing the new cast. That way you get the full duration and damage of both casts. If you perform the 2nd MoC with 15s left on the duration of the first MoC, you are losing 50% of the damage of that first cast.

Lynx Rush does 9 pet melee swings at the normal damage amount. It is also unaffected by haste since it is a set number of attacks. Blink Rush is a large pet attack every 20s. Since it is one attack, it is also unaffected by haste. These abilities are much better for BM hunters than MM hunters since they are pets performing the attacks. Note that if these abilities are used at the same time Rabid is up and providing the pet with additional AP, these abilities could be better than A Murder of Crows.

Currently, MoC wins out of the three abilities. A primary reason is that MoC does huge damage on a long CD. Thus, Readiness benefits MoC much more than it does the other two abilities since an extra MoC is much more damage than an extra Lynx Rush or Blink Strike. Also, with the longer CD of MoC, you save GCDs that can be used on for more ASs and SSs. To use MoC on CD is 1 GCD every 2 mins. Blink Strike requires 6 GCDs over that period, and Lynx Rush requires about 1.33 GCDs.

Recommendation: A Murder of Crows

[top]2.2.6 Level 90 Talents

The talent choices at level 90 are:

Spell	Use	Focus Cost	Definition
Glaive Toss	Instant	15	You hurl two glaives toward a target, each dealing damage to each enemy struck and reducing movement speed by 30% for 3 sec. The primary target will take 8 times as much damage from each strike. The Glaives return back to you, damaging and snaring targets again as they return. 15s CD.
Powershot	3s cast	20	You wind up a powerful shot, which deals damage to the target and to all enemies in between you and the target. Enemies hit by Powershot are also knocked back. 1 min CD.
Barrage	Channeled	30	Rapidly fire a spray of shots forward for 3 sec, dealing damage to the enemy target and to each other enemy target in front of you.

The theme of the level 90 talents are AoE attacks that do more damage to the primary target, making them viable in single target situations as well. Barrage suppress Auto Shot during its channel, which somewhat diminishes its usability for MM hunters.

For now, Glaive Toss seems to be the best since it is instant with not suppressing Auto Shot and costs less focus than the other spells. Hence, if doing an AS focus dump rotation, it can directly replace an AS cast when off CD without affecting focus balancing. In fact, using GT instead of AS saves 5 focus per use. On a 15s CD, GT not only does a lot more damage than AS but also save roughly 0.33 FPS. That is enough focus to be able to substitute an extra SS for an AS about every 2 mins.

Note that for certain fights where spaced out AoE burst is useful that the other two abilities may be better.

Recommendation: Glaive Toss

[top]3.0 Glyphs

In MoP, there are two types of glyphs – Major and Minor. In general, Major glyphs add DPS/utility while Minor glyphs add flavor.

[top]3.1 Major Glyphs

The table below provides a list of the Major glyphs for hunters.

Glyph of	Description	Comments
Animal Bond	While your pet is active, all healing done to you and your pet is increased by 10%.	Although this glyph does not directly increase your DPS, your DPS is 0 when you are dead. Besides increasing the heals done to you by others (and decreasing their resource usage to heal you), this glyph affects your self-heals from CS, Exhilaration, and SB. It also affects the benefit of Exhilaration, SB, and Mend Pet on your pet. Thus, this glyph can be beneficial on fights with a lot of raid damage or when your pet is tanking. On fights with little raid or pet damage or avoidable damage, then this glyph is not as good of an option.
Camouflage	Your Camouflage ability now provides stealth even while moving, but your movement speed while Camouflage is active is reduced by 50%.	A PvP glyph which is not recommended for PvE.
Chimera Shot	Increases the healing you receive from Chimera Shot by an additional 2% of your maximum health.	Once again, although this glyph does not directly increase your DPS, your DPS is 0 when you are dead. This increases the self-healing by CS from 3% to 5%. Assuming using CS off CD, this glyph increases the average HPS from CS from 0.33% to 0.55%. This essentially means that with the glyph, it would take you about 3 mins instead of 5 mins to self-heal fully from 1 health using only the self-heal from CS. This glyph can be useful on healing intensive fights, but is not useful on fights in which you take little damage that cannot be avoided. Between the CS and Animal Bond glyph, I would recommend Animal Bond since it affects all sources of healing.
Deterrence	Increases the damage reduction granted by Deterrence by 20%.	This glyph increases the damage reduction of Deterrence from 30% to 50%. This glyph is really useful for PvP. For PvE it can be useful in certain situations in which the boss fight has mechanics where you periodically have to survive large amounts of unavoidable damage. The value of this glyph is improved if you have the CTHC talent, which reduces its CD by half.
Disengage	Increases the distance you travel when you disengage.	Although this glyph could have rare situational benefits in PvE, I do not recommend it for PvE. However, for those players that use Disengage well and frequently, this glyph can have benefits and also has synergy with all of the level 15 talents.
Distracting Shot	Your Distracting Shot now distracts the target to attack your pet instead of you.	In the rare situations in raids where we need to use DS, this glyph keeps the target off us. In general, I do not recommend it for PvE, although it may have beneficial use in some cases.
Endless Wrath	While Bestial Wrath is active, your pet cannot be killed, but can still be damaged.	Since only BM hunters have the Bestial Wrath ability, this glyph is useless for MM hunters.
Explosive Trap	Your Explosive Trap no longer deals damage, instead knocking enemies back from the trap when it explodes.	Mostly a PvP glyph. It may be beneficial in PvE in certain fights where another source of knockbacks is needed, but generally it is not a useful glyph since we prefer for ET to do damage.
Freezing Trap	When your Freezing Trap breaks, the victim's movement speed is reduced by 70% for 4 sec.	Most useful in PvP. It can be useful in PvE situations in which CC of individual mobs is important, but I would think that it is generally not useful in raids.
Ice Trap	Increases the radius of the effect from your Ice Trap by 2 yards.	Not really useful in most PvE situations.
Icy Solace	Your Freezing Trap also removes all damage over time effects from the target.	Not too useful in PvE. Only useful in PvE when performing CC on targets that may already be DoTed, but good player discipline should eliminate the need for this glyph in most CC situations.
Liberation	When you disengage, you are healed for 5% of your health.	Another good self-heal option for survivability, especially if you use disengage a lot.
Master’s Call	Increases the duration of your Master's Call by 4 sec.	Mostly beneficial in PvP. This glyph is not generally recommended in PvE since it has rare usefulness over the base ability.
Mend Pet	Gives your Mend Pet ability a 50% chance of cleansing 1 Curse, Disease, Magic or Poison effect from your pet each tick.	This glyph is not generally recommended for PvE. There may be rare scenarios where it is beneficial.
Mending	Increases the total amount of healing done by your Mend Pet ability by 60%.	Increases the healing done by Mend Pet from 25% to 40% of pet health. If you also have the Animal Bond glyph, your Mend Pet heals 44% of pet health. This glyph is not really useful in most PvE situations, unless your pet is tanking or taking large amounts of damage.
Mirrored Blades	When attacked by a spell while in Deterrence, you have a 100% chance to reflect it back at the attacker.	This ability is not generally useful in PvE.
Misdirection	When you use Misdirection on your pet, the cooldown on your Misdirection is reset.	Great glyph for soloing or pet tanking, but not too useful generally in PvE. It is helpful when pet tanking to help your pet gain threat.
No Escape	Increases the ranged critical strike chance of all of your attacks on targets affected by your Freezing Trap by 6%.	Considering that when we do use FT in PvE that it will generally be used to CC and that only the first attack on the target to break that CC is affected by this glyph, it is not recommended.
Pathfinding	Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 8%, and increases your speed while mounted by 10%. The mounted movement speed increase does not stack with other effects.	Only useful in PvE in situations where personal or raid movement speed can be increased safely by the movement aspects.
Scatter Shot	Increases the range of Scatter Shot by 3 yards.	Not recommended for PvE.
Scattering	Your Scatter Shot also removes all damage over time effects from the target.	Not generally useful for PvE.
Snake Trap	Snakes from your Snake Trap take 90% reduced damage from area of effect attacks.	Not generally useful for PvE since we rarely use Snake Trap and the benefits of each snake is small enough that it is usually not worth using a glyph slot to increase their lives, especially considering that proper timing of dropping the glyph can increase the snakes’ lives in most scenarios. However, with how snake trap damage is buffed in MoP, this glyph may be one to consider.
Tranquilizing Shot	Your Tranquilizing Shot no longer costs Focus, but has a 10 sec cooldown.	This glyph is not recommended since we rarely need to use Tranquilizing Shot in PvE and, when we do, it is not difficult to make sure that we save the 20 focus to be able to cast it.

[top]3.1.1 Major Glyphs Recommendation

For the average boss fight, I recommend the following Major glyphs:

- Aimed Shot
- Animal Bond
- Deterrence (especially if you have the CTHC talent halving its CD)

Aimed Shot is the only hunter Major glyph with a somewhat general DPS benefit since it allows you to cast AI while on the move. If you do not use AI a lot, then the CS glyph or the Liberation glyph are good options for additional survivability.

There are many other Major glyph options that can provide PvE benefits in certain boss fights. When these situations arise, I suggest replacing one of the survivability glyphs. The survivability glyph to replace depends on the nature of the boss fight. I would replace the CS glyph at the highest priority in most cases if have it. Whether to replace Animal Bond or Deterrence glyphs depend on the frequency and strength of the damage taken during the fight and whether it can be avoided by Deterrence.

[top]3.2 Minor Glyphs

The table below provides a list of the Minor glyphs for hunters. These are mostly glyphs that provide flavor to the class; however, a few have some limited PvE benefit.

Glyph of	Description	Comments
Aspect of the Beast	Teaches you the ability Aspect of the Beast. The Hunter becomes untrackable. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.	Not useful for PvE.
Aspect of the Cheetah	Your Aspect of the Cheetah no longer causes you to be dazed when struck. Instead, the effect is cancelled and all your Aspects are placed on a 4 sec cooldown.	This can be very useful in PvE in situations where you need some extra movement speed when not doing much DPS but are afraid to use Cheetah do to the possible daze.
Aspect of the Pack	Increases the range of your Aspect of the Pack ability by 15 yards.	Some utility for PvE. This glyph may help running back in from deaths and on some boss strategies.
Aspects	Each time you activate a new Aspect, an animal companion representing that Aspect will follow you for 15 sec.	Pure flavor…not useful for PvE.
Direction	Causes your Misdirection target to appear larger.	Pure flavor…not useful for PvE.
Fetch	Teaches you the ability Fetch. Command your pet to retrieve the items on a nearby corpse.	Mostly flavor…not useful for PvE.
Fireworks	Teaches you the ability Fireworks. Launch fireworks from your gun, bow or crossbow.	Pure flavor…not useful for PvE.
Lesser Proportion	Slightly reduces the size of your pet.	Pure flavor…not useful for PvE.
Marking	Your Hunter's Mark ability now places a bullseye on your target instead of its usual visual.	Pure flavor…not useful for PvE.
Revive Pet	Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Revive Pet by 100%.	Useful in PvE if need to Revive Pet in combat while cast pushback is possible. Quicker pet resurrection is more DPS uptime. This glyph is not as useful when using a Ferocity pet since Heart of the Phoenix is an instant pet resurrection.
Stampede	Your Stampede no longer summons pets from your stable, and instead uses copies of your current pet.	Pure flavor…not useful for PvE.
Tame Beast	Reduces the time required to complete Tame Beast by 4 sec.	Not useful for PvE.

[top]3.2.1 Minor Glyphs Recommendation

For the average boss fight, I recommend the following Minor glyphs:

- Aspect of the Pack
- Aspect of the Cheetah
- Revive Pet

These glyphs are chosen since they potentially have PvE benefits; however, none of these are required and could be replaced with a flavor glyph. If using Ferocity pets usually, then Revive Pet may not be needed if Heart of the Phoenix handles most pet resurrection situations for you.

[top]4.0 Race

This analysis is for T15H gear at level 90 using the MM Max DPS case in Female Dwarf provided in this post. Since the analysis uses an Orc, the result for an Orc is the basis for which all other races are compared. As it happens, Orc is currently close to the best overall race for MM, so this provides a direct damage loss by using another race, with the exception of Trolls. When doing the comparison, the same gear was used throughout with reforging for any stats like hit and expertise that a racial provides to keep as little over the caps as possible. Note that Female Dwarf averages the benefit of abilities like Blood Fury (Berserking is now explicitly handled though); hence, in game use of the abilities at the correct time with stacking upon other abilities can result in better DPS than shown below. The difference in DPS between the races with no DPS racial is their base stats at 90 is hsown below. As can be seen, Trolls are now by far the best race for MMs since Beserking allows more use of AI now.

Race	DPS/Difference	% Difference
Troll	+838	+0.5%
Orc	166178	0%
Pandaren	-87	-0.1%
Worgen	-375	-0.2%
Forsaken	-700	-0.4%
Goblins	-802	-0.5%
Dwarf	-865	-0.5%
Draenei	-1449	-0.9%*
Night Elf	-1415	-0.9%
Human	-1436	-0.9%
Tauren	-1454	-0.9%
Blood Elf	-1788	-1.1%#
Gnome	Not applicable

* The Draenei numbers are low since this profile already had a lot of extra hit rating that cannot be removed. Thus, the 1% hit racial add no benefit; however, a benefit could potentially be gained by switching out gear pieces to reduce hit.
# Blood Elf DPS should not be much lower than the other lower races but the Arcane Torrent focus changes caused some adverse shot shifting.

As a historical record, here is the data from the T14 analysis.

Race	DPS/Difference	% Difference
Troll	+93	+0.1%
Orc	104567	0%
Pandaren	-7	-0%
Worgen	-225	-0.2%
Forsaken	-304	-0.3%
Goblins	-581	-0.6%
Draenei	-642	-0.6%
Dwarf	-899	-0.9%
Blood Elf	-988	-0.9%
Night Elf	-1032	-1.0%
Human	-1049	-1.0%
Tauren	-1062	-1.0%
Gnome	Not applicable

Hence, all of the races are within about 1.1% of the Max DPS race of Troll. Since FD models the Troll and Pandaren racials well but only averages out Blood Fury, I still believe that Orcs is actually the best race for MMs.

Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent for silencing nearby enemies and 15 focus every 2 mins and resistance to magic. Although Arcane Torrent does provide a small DPS benefit, it is very small since it averages to 0.125 FPS. Over a 5 min fight, Arcane Torrent does not even provide enough focus for 1 extra AI. Hence, Blood Elves are in the bottom tier for MM races with just being barely ahead of the races with no racials that provide a DPS benefit.

Draenei: Heroic Presence for 1% hit, Shadow Resistance, and Gift of the Naaru for a heal. Draenei are in the middle tier of MM DPS, but the heal form Gift can be a nice benefit in many situations.

Dwarf: Crack Shot for 1% expertise, Frost Resistance, and Stoneform to remove some status ailments. Dwarves are in the middle to lower tier of races for MMs.

Forsaken: Will of the Forsaken to remove certain status effects and Shadow Resistance. Touch of the Grace has a chance to damage the target and heal the Forsaken for the same amount. This benefir is enough to put Forsaken somewhere between the first and second tier of MM races.

Goblins: Time is Money for 1% attack speed. Rocket Jump for short burst movements and Rocket Barrage for some damage. Goblins are in the second tier for MM DPS, although Rocket Jump can be useful in many raid situations.

Gnome: Cannot be a hunter.

Human: Every Man for Himself to shake off speed reduction and traps. Humans are in the bottom tier for MM hunters since they have no racials that directly benefit DPS.

Night Elf: Shadowmeld, Nature Resistance, Quickness to avoid damage. Night Elves are in the bottom tier for MM hunters since they have no racials that directly benefit DPS.

Orc: Blood Fury for increased AP, Command for increased pet damage, and Hardiness for recovering from stuns/snares faster. Orcs are currently the best race for Horde and overall. Note that the Orc’s DPS is slightly devalued in FD due to the averaging of Blood Fury instead of stacking it at key times for maximum DPS. Blood Fury during the CA phase with RF and haste trinket procs is a very powerful boost.

Pandaren: Epicurean for double Well-fed buffs, Bouncy for less falling damage, and Quaking Palm for a stun. Pandaren DPS is just slightly behind Orc currently; however, I expect for Pandaren DPS to fall behind as gear progresses since Epicurean is a static benefit, while talents like Blood Fury becomes better with more haste and mastery, Command becomes better with increased pet damage, and Berserking becomes better at higher damage.

Taurens: War Stomp for a stun, Nature Resistance, and Endurance for extra health. All of a Tauren’s racials are for survivability and none for DPS, putting a Tauren at the low end of MM DPS.

Troll: Berserking for haste, Dead Eye for 1% expertise, Beast Slaying for 5% damage versus beasts, Da Voodoo Shuffle for snare resistance, and Regeneration. Troll DPS is currently slightly behind Orcs by about 0.1%, but I expect that Trolls will close the gap as gear and DPS improves since the value of Beserking will increase.

Worgen: Viciousness for 1% crit. Darkflight for increased movement speed, and Aberration for decreased nature and shadow damage. Viciousness is a nice DPS benefit for MMs considering all of out abilities that proc from crits, but DPS-wise Worgen lag a little behind the top races. What makes Worgen a great PvE choice is Darkflight, since that increased movement speed can be a huge benefit in many situations.

One question I often receive is why Draenei and Dwarves are rated lower than Worgen when crit is a lower rated stat than hit or expertise. The reason is that the stat ranks are per point of a stat not per percentage. Since different stats can require dissimilar rating total per percentage, stat percentage priority may not match single stat rating priorities. That is the case here and in other similar situations. 1 hit rating (up to the cap) is generally better than 1 crit rating. However, since it takes only about 340 hit rating for 1% hit but about 600 crit rating for 1% crit, the difference in the two racials is actually 600 crit rating versus 340 hit rating. This requires hit rating to be 1.76 times better than crit rating over that whole range of stat ratings. Furthermore, when adding in the benefit of reforging and assuming you can reforge the full benefit of the racials, 600 reforge points is worth more than 340, especially considering that the 600 crit can become 340 hit and 260 crit, making it as good as the Draenei and Dwarf racials, plus some.

[top]5.0 Stats

Below is a summary of the precedence in hunter stats currently depending on the situation. Note that the order of our secondary stats (crit, mastery, and haste) may change depending on your current gear, shot selection, and reforging situation putting you past a tipping point where changes in stats can cause a reordering of their precedence. However, I believe that the ordering below is generally true for each case, and it is agreed upon by other sources.

AS focus dump:

Range DPS >> agi > hit = expertise = 2 AP > crit > haste to desired cap > mastery > haste >> stamina

Crit is the best secondary stat. Haste allows you to optimize the CS cycles to minimize wait times or delays in CS casts. Haste also allows extra ability attacks in some cases, such as is the case with DB. Mastery is close but behind the other stats. Note that if you are doing a larger number of AIs than ASs that the AI focus dump case may be better.

AI focus dump:

Range DPS >> agi > hit = expertise = 2 AP > haste => crit > mastery >> stamina

Haste is the most important stat since it allows faster and more frequent AIs in addition to a faster autoshot frequency. Crit is still important for all of our abilities that depend on it.

AoE:

Range DPS >> agi > hit = expertise = 2 AP > mastery > crit > haste >> stamina

For AoE, mastery is the best stat. This is because every attack produced by a single MS has a chance to proc WQ. Crit is the next best stat due to the extra damage generated over all the attacks and due to crits proccing Bombardment. Haste is the lowest stat since it only affects our base focus regen and our autoshots and SSs, which are only performed on a single target.

Here is a more detailed discussion of each stat:

[top]5.1 Range DPS

This stat only applies to ranged weapons. Of all pieces of hunter gear, our ranged weapon is by far the highest contributor to our DPS, and the reason is the amount of DPS done by the weapon. An increase in Range DPS is much greater than an increase in other stats. Because of this, a higher item level ranged weapon will generally provide more DPS than a lower item level range weapon regardless of the stats on both (although some exceptions may exist).

Note that I did not include weapon speed in the list of hunter stats since the renormalization of hunter shots reduced the large dependency of weapon speed. With that said, if two weapons do the same range DPS and have the same stats, the slower range weapon will do slightly more damage for a MM hunter.

[top]5.2 Agility DPS

Of the stats generally on all pieces of gear, agility provides the largest DPS benefit and is the primary stat that MM hunters want to stack. It affects both how hard each shot hits and how often a shot crits. Without any buffs:

1 agility =
2 AP and
1/1259.518 = 0.0008% crit or 0.476 crit rating

With including the 5% stat buff, the 5% agility buff from wearing all mail, the 10% AP raid buff, and the 10% AP buff from Aspect of the Hawk:

1 agility -> 1.1 agility (stat buff and mail bonus) =
2.2 AP -> 2.64 AP (AP buff) and
1.1/1259.518 = 0.0009% crit or 0.524 crit rating

Agility is not a reforgeable stat, so we generally want to acquire as much of it as possible from gear, gems, and enchants without sacrificing too much in other stats where it results in a DPS loss.

There is no cap on the amount of agility that benefits a hunter.

[top]5.3 Hit Chance and Rating

Hit rating affects the chance that our shots will hit or miss the target. A missed shot does no damage. Hence, it is important never to miss our targets.

340 hit rating = 1% hit

Everyone knows that hit rating is the most important stat for hunters. Well, this maxim is no longer true in all situations. Agility can be a better stat than hit rating due to it worth as discussed in 5.2.

Hit rating is capped at 100% hit chance. Any hit rating above that needed to get 100% hit has no DPS benefit. However, since hit usually comes in chunks of rating, it is very difficult to get exactly the cap. Going over the cap by less than 40 hit rating is preferred. For level 93 bosses, it requires 7.5% hit from gear, gems, enchants, food, potions/elixers, and abilities to be able to have a 100% hit chance.

100% hit requires 2550 hit rating (or 2210 if you are Draenei)

Hit rating is reforgeable, so you do not have to sacrifice better DPS pieces of gear (including gems and enchants) to get hit rating from gear. Instead, you can reforge the worst of your secondary stats to make up any deficiencies.

Note that even with 100% hit chance, bosses can still block your ranged attacks if you are attacking from the front. Blocks result in a shot doing only partial damage. Since a target cannot block attacks from behind, it is best to attack a target from within the 180 degree cone centered directly behind the target.

Note that our pets inherit our hit and miss chances. So being hit capped means that our pet is hit capped too.

[top]5.4 Dodge and Parry Chance and Expertise Rating

In addition to attacks possibly missing or being blocked, attacks can also be dodged and parried. Expertise helps to eliminate the chance that attacks can be dodged or parried. Since ranged attacks cannot be parried, hunters do not need to worry about the much higher parry cap and only need to worry about the dodge cap.

Dodge is very similar to miss since if an attack is dodged or miss, you do no damage. Hence, just like for Hit chance, Expertise is capped at 100%, and it takes 7.5% Expertise to avoid having ranged attacks dodged by level 93 bosses. Furthermore, the amount of Expertise rating per Expertise percent is the same as for fit as shown.

340 expertise rating = 1% expertise

100% expertise requires 2550 expertise rating (or 2210 if you are a Dwarf or Troll)

Expertise rating is reforgeable, so you do not have to sacrifice better DPS pieces of gear (including gems and enchants) to get expertise rating from gear. Instead, you can reforge the worst of your secondary stats to make up any deficiencies.

Note that our pets inherit our expertise and dodge chances. So being expertise capped means that our pet is expertise capped for dodge too. However, since out pets do melee attacks, they will not be expertise capped for parry, and still have a chance for their attacks to be parried. In most situations, this does not matter since our pets attack from behind where the attacks cannot be parried. Pet attacks can only be parried when the pet is attacking the target from the front when tanking the target or when it is highest on threat.

[top]5.5 Attack Power (AP)

AP is a stat that you will generally not see on gear anymore, with a few exceptions. Generally, it will appear only on enchants, trinkets, and other items as proc effects. 2 AP equals 1 point of itemization. Thus, you need to half the amount of AP when comparing it to other stats.

2 AP is essentially the same benefit as agility but without the gains from the stat buff and mail bonus and without the small benefit to crit. Hence, 2 AP is roughly 0.75 agility.

[top]5.6 Critical Strike Chance and Rating

600 crit rating = 1% crit

Critical strike rating is a very important stat for MM hunters. MM hunters depend on crits for the following reasons:
• Our shots do more damage when they crit. Generally, our shots do twice as much damage when they crit. Having a meta gem with the 3% crit damage bonus results in each of our crits doing even more damage.
• Our pets inherit our crit. Thus, how often our pet crits is dependent on how much crit we have.
• Crits of our CS, AI, and SS trigger the PS bleed effects for an additional 30% damage.
• Crits of our MS provides the Bombardment buff reducing the focus cost of subsequent MSs.

Crit does have some soft and hard caps.

The hard cap is at 100% crit. There is a 0.6% crit depression on a level 93 boss. Thus, we can have 100.6% crit before crit chance is actually capped. Our raw crit chance will never be at the hard cap with the range that crit chance will be; however, a couple soft caps exist in conjunction with the hard cap.

The first crit soft cap has to do with the talent Careful Aim (CA). CA provides 75% bonus crit chance on SS and AI attacks on targets above 90% health. Thus, your SS and AI shots will be crit capped if you have 25.6% crit chance. This is just a soft cap though, you do not want to reduce your base crit chance below 25.6% in order to maximize your CA benefit since it lowers your crit rate for those shots for 90% of the boss health and the rest of your shots for 100% of the boss health. What this soft cap means is that crit percent above 25.6% is worth a little less.

The second soft cap concerns Ferocity pets, who have a 10% more crit chance over the crit chance that they inherit from you. Thus, your Ferocity pet’s chance to crit is capped when you are at 90.6% crit chance. Since we should never be close to that high of a base crit chance, this soft cap really is not applicable.

[top]5.7 Mastery and Mastery rating

The MM mastery is Wild Quiver (WQ). It gives our ranged attacks a chance to proc an additional shot similar to an autoshot. WQ can proc from autoshot and any of our special attacks. It also has a chance to proc from each shot that our MS does, making it very valuable in AoE situations.

600 mastery rating adds a 2.1% to proc WQ on each range attack.

Note that WQ does not proc from attacks that are not shots, such as Kill Command.

[top]5.8 Haste and Haste Rating

Haste is a fickle. Depending on the situation, it can either be the most important or the least important of our secondary stats. There are a several critical haste points and numerous minor haste points that affect the current value of additional haste.

425 haste rating = 1% haste

The benefits of haste to MM hunters are numerous, resulting in haste being difficult to easily quantify, and include:
• Increases autoshot frequency. This is important for MM hunters due to the the increased chance to proc WQ.
• Decreases SS cast time. At certain SS cast times, GCDs can be saved allowing additional shots to be taken. These additional shots will normally be our focus dump, currently AS or AI (depending on the situation and preferences), for additional damage.
• Decreases AI cast time. Similarly to reducing SS cast times, reducing AI cast times allow additional shots to be taken during a CS cycle. Furthermore, reducing AI cast time reduces your exposure to get you AI casts interrupted or push backed.
• Increases focus regen rate for both the hunter and the pet (note that some attack speed buffs do not affect focus regen)
• Increases your pet’s melee attack rate since it inherits our haste
• Increases the uptime or effect of proc abilities like PS and stacking trinkets.
• Increases the number of attacks and damage done by abilities affected by haste, such as Stampede and Dire Beast.

Haste does not affect how often our DoTs (SrS and PS bleeds) tick for damage. These are both classified as physical attacks and are therefore unaffected by haste. MoC is implemented to be essentially a physical DoT as well. As such, it also is not affected by haste.

Another factor impacting haste is latency and human reaction times. Any haste amounts quoted in this guide are for the ideal case assuming no latency and perfect reaction time. Each player will need to adjust the listed haste amounts to account for their latency and reaction times in order to get the full benefits of that listed haste.

As mentioned previously, several break points exist for haste. To understand these and haste better, let's explore how haste effects the different aspects of MM performance.

[top]5.8.1 Haste and Autoshot

There is no break point where additional haste has a reduction of benefit to our autoshots. The more haste we have, the higher the frequency of our autoshots. If all other stats are constant, our autoshot DPS scales linearly with the amount of haste we have and at a slope dependent on our weapon damage, crit rate, and AP. So if our autoshot scales linearly with haste, we should stack haste then, right? Not exactly, haste is never free and comes at the cost of other stats. Thus, at some point, although we are taking more frequent autoshots, they are hitting for so much less per shot that the DPS has decreased. Where this point is gear dependent and not really anything to design your shot selection around.

[top]5.8.2 Haste and Steady Shot

Similar to autoshot, SS DPS generally increases with haste since the cast time is reduced. However, unlike autoshot, SS has several soft and hard haste amounts where the benefit of additional haste is reduced or even eliminated in regards to SS. These all revolve around the 1s GCD.

As a baseline, the default raid cast time for SS when under the effects of the 10% raid buff and the 15% haste from ISS is 1.58s with 0% haste from gear. If you notice your SS casts taking longer than this number, then you are missing one of the critical haste buffs.

The hard cap where additional static haste will no longer provide you any benefit to SS (besides shorter cast time to limit pushback or interruption exposure) is the amount that brings your SS cast time to the GCD of 1s. This static haste from gear hard cap is at 58.1%. With T15 heroic gear, these amounts of static haste are not obtainable from gear.

What are obtainable are the various soft caps where your SS cast becomes temporarily below the 1s GCD due to dynamic haste effects. Below is a list of the amount of haste from gear required to reach the soft cap under various dynamic haste effects. This list is not exhaustive since it does not include a lot of proc haste effects (such as from some trinkets) but a similar concept applies for these as well. Since the haste procs from trinket are usually well below the haste amount from BL and since that haste amount is not easily achievable, the soft cap for just a trinket proc is not achievable either and not necessary to discuss. The list only shows the dynamic haste effects that all MM hunters should/can experience in raids.

RF: 12.93%
Bloodlust: 21.6%

Any static haste (from gear and Pathing) above the amounts listed for each dynamic haste effect has reduced benefit to your SS casts since they have no benefit when that dynamic haste effect is present.

The other major effect of haste on SS casts is reducing the cast time to allow additional shots into the CS cycle or during the course of the fight. With how much more damage that CS does over our other shots (with the exception of AI) that we can cast within a CS cycle, we normally want to cast CS off CD. This helps to make the haste values required to gain additional shots per cycle more quantifiable. See section 5.8.2.1 Haste and Steady Shot with AS as Focus Dump for more details.

The final item to note in regards to SS and haste, is that during an SS cast, an MM hunter always theoretically gains around 23.32 focus regardless of the cast time as shown in the table below. In addition to the constant 17 focus (when SF is in effect) received with each SS cast, the amount of focus regeneration that occurs during the cast is roughly constant since the effect of haste on reducing the cast length increases the focus per second regen rate by an inverse amount minus the lack of regen benefits from ISS and the raid buff. If ISS and the raid buff affected regen, the SS would return a constant 25 focus per cast.

Haste*..	Base^	BL^...	RF^...	Base$	BL$...	RF$...	Base&..	BL&...	RF&-
0%	4.00	5.20	9.60	1.58	1.22	1.13	23.32	23.32	23.32
1%	4.04	5.25	9.66	1.57	1.20	1.12	23.32	23.32	23.32
2%	4.08	5.30	9.71	1.55	1.19	1.11	23.32	23.32	23.32
3%	4.12	5.36	9.77	1.53	1.18	1.10	23.32	23.32	23.32
4%	4.16	5.41	9.82	1.52	1.17	1.09	23.32	23.32	23.32
5%	4.20	5.46	9.88	1.51	1.16	1.08	23.32	23.32	23.32
6%	4.24	5.51	9.94	1.49	1.15	1.07	23.32	23.32	23.32
7%	4.28	5.56	9.99	1.48	1.14	1.06	23.32	23.32	23.32
8%	4.32	5.62	10.05	1.46	1.13	1.05	23.32	23.32	23.32
9%	4.36	5.67	10.10	1.45	1.12	1.04	23.32	23.32	23.32
10%	4.40	5.72	10.16	1.44	1.11	1.03	23.32	23.32	23.32
11%	4.44	5.77	10.22	1.42	1.10	1.02	23.32	23.32	23.32
12%	4.48	5.82	10.27	1.41	1.09	1.01	23.32	23.32	23.32
13%	4.52	5.88	10.33	1.40	1.08	1.00	23.32	23.32	23.33
14%	4.56	5.93	10.38	1.39	1.07	1.00	23.32	23.32	23.38
15%	4.60	5.98	10.44	1.38	1.06	1.00	23.32	23.32	23.44
16%	4.64	6.03	10.50	1.36	1.05	1.000	23.32	23.32	23.50
17%	4.68	6.08	10.55	1.35	1.04	1.000	23.32	23.32	23.55
18%	4.72	6.14	10.61	1.34	1.03	1.000	23.32	23.32	23.61
19%	4.76	6.19	10.66	1.33	1.02	1.000	23.32	23.32	23.66
20%	4.80	6.24	10.72	1.32	1.01	1.000	23.32	23.32	23.72

* From gear
^ Focus Regen
$ SS cast Time with including GCD
& Total focus gain during the SS cast assuming SF is maintained
- Minus the effects of RR, which just adds 4 to the amount

As can be seen at all haste amounts, the focus regen from an SS cast is a constant 23.32 focus regardless of the SS cast time, after removing the benefit of RR from RF numbers, up until the SS cast is GCD capped during which case the focus regen is slightly higher due to the duration of the base focus regen between the GCD and where the SS cast stops.

The effect of the T14 4-set bonus on this information is that each SS cast now is a little faster due to SF providing 25% haste instead of 15%. This has a couple impacts:
- SS casts become GCD capped with lower haste from gear in each scenario. Unhasted SSs, BL hasted SSs, and RF hasted SSs become GCD capped at 45.45%, 11.89%, and 3.90% haste from gear, respectively.
- SSs gain -0.5 focus per cast at 22.82 due to the shorter cast time but unaffected focus regen.

[top]5.8.2.1 Haste and Steady Shot with AS as Focus Dump

The majority of every boss fight is spent in what is referred to as the Standard phase unhasted. This is the phase of the fight where we are not in either CA phase or KS phase and when we are not under dynamic haste effects. With assuming proportional fight phase durations to boss health, the non-CA and non-KS phases of the fights are about 60%, which is about 3 mins of a 5 min fight. With assuming that one RF pair is performed in the CA phase and Bloodlust after and another RF pair just before the KS phase, that leaves only one RF pair and BL during this phase, making the unhasted portion about 140 secs or 47% of the fight if you do not have any haste trinkets. Since this phase is the longest most consistent portion of the fight and the major part of the fight where we are constrained to want to have a tight CS cycle (as discussed later), it makes sense to design your haste amounts around those required for this phase, which we now do.

Here is the information on the breakpoints where reduction in SS cast time gains additional GCDs during a CS cycle. All cases assume that the base rotation includes at least one SS pair to maintain SF uptime. Other limitations on the analysis is that the SS cast time is constrained between the 1s GCD and the 1.58s cast time with zero haste from gear when fully raid buffed, the maximum of 8 GCDs available per cycle minus the GCD for CS, and the desire for the total SS cast time to be a multiple of a GCD so that we have a tight CD cycle. The possibilities that meet these limitations is shown in the table below:

#SSs	GCDs Used	GCDs Left	Cast Time	Haste Needed	Hasted Needed T14 4P
2	3	5	1.50	5.40%	-3.03%
2	2	6	1.00	58.10%	45.45%
3	4	4	1.33	18.58%	9.09%
3	3	5	1.00	58.10%	45.45%
4	6	2	1.50	5.40%	-3.03%
4	5	3	1.25	26.48%	16.36%
4	4	4	1.00	58.10%	45.45%
5	7	1	1.40	12.93%	3.90%
5	6	2	1.20	31.75%	21.21%
6	8	0	1.33	18.58%	9.09%
6	7	1	1.17	35.52%	21.21%
6	6	2	1.00	58.10%	45.45%
7	8	0	1.14	38.34%	27.27%
7	7	1	1.00	58.10%	45.45%
8	8	0	1.00	58.10%	45.45%

#SSs is the number of SS to cast each CS cycle
GCDs Used is the GCDs used by the SSs
GCDs Left is the GCDs remaining in the CS cycle minus the GCD for the CS
Cast Time is the required cast time to perform the indicated number of SSs in the number of GCDs. The value is limited between 1s and 1.58s, the base SS cast time when raid buffed
Haste Needed is the haste requirement from gear to achieve the SS cast time

Of the possibilities in the table, I originally struck out all haste amounts over 20% or less than 0% as not really being feasible. That left only 5 options for the standard case and 4 options for the T14 4P case. Of the remainders, all cases with 4 or more SSs were tossed out since they are way focus positive and performing more low damage SSs than necessary.

For the standard case, this leaves only the following two options:
- 2 SSs in 3 GCDs requiring 5.40% haste
- 3 SSs in 4 GCDs requiring 18.58% haste
Neither of these cases were ideal in T14 gear since the first is really low on haste, while the second is really high. However, the 18.58% haste level is now achievable without sacrificing much crit in T15 gear, but only if you have near full heroic gear. In addition, with the focus regen from DB, the first will be slightly focus negative while the second is a little focus positive. Hence, for those without T15H gear, I suggest to shoot for a haste amount some where in between and sometimes do 2 SSs per cycle with having a little deadtime before the CS cast and others do 3 SSs with having a little delay in the CS cast. Since SS is GCD capped during RF at 12.93% haste, somewhere around that haste level is ideal. As gearing approaches T15H gear, I suggest slowly increasing haste towards the 18.58% haste cap. This is because the 3 SS cycle is by far the most common CS cycle that is experienced throughout a boss fight and this haste level results in a tight CS cycle.

For the T14 4P case, only one options works well. That is doing 3 SSs in 4s, which requires only 9.09% haste from gear. With DB, this rotation will be a little focus positive allowing for only doing 2 SSs some cycles for a little deadtime (0.33s) before the CS cast on those cycles.

[top]5.8.3 Haste and Aimed Shot

The effect of haste on AI is similar to that for SS, except that with the longer base cast time, it takes more haste to reach the hard and soft caps.

As a baseline, the default raid cast time for AI when under the effects of the 10% raid buff and the 15% haste from SF is 1.976s with 0% haste from gear. With the T14 4P, the default cast time is 1.818s. If you notice your AI casts taking longer than these numbers depending on the applicable situation, then you are probably missing one of the critical haste buffs.

The hard cap where additional static haste will no longer provide you any benefit to AI is the amount that brings your cast time to the GCD of 1s. This static haste from gear hard cap is at 97.6% (81.8% with the T14 4P). These amounts of static haste are not obtainable, so do not worry about the AI haste hard cap.

What can be obtainable (but only when stacking dynamic haste effects) are the various soft caps where your AI cast becomes temporarily below the 1s GCD due to dynamic haste effects. Below is a list of the amount of haste from gear required to reach the soft cap under various dynamic haste effects. This list is not exhaustive since it does not include a lot of proc haste effects (such as from some trinkets) but a similar concept applies for these as well.

RF and BL: 8.6% (0.0% with T14 4P)
RF: 41.2% (29.9% with T14 4P)
Bloodlust: 52.0% (39.9% with T14 4P)

For all practical intents and purposes, unless you are stacking multiple dynamic haste effects, which is usually not recommended except during the CA phase and except in regards to proc effects, your AI will almost never be at any hard or soft haste cap with current gear.

The other major effect of haste on AI casts is reducing the cast time to allow additional shots into the CS cycle or during the course of the fight similar to as discussed in the SS section.

The portions of the fight during which we hardcast AI are relatively small and haste trinkets are not necessarily the best trinket options. With 2 RF pairs (one during the CA phase) and a BL during a 5 min fight, you will only be hardcasting AI at most for about 1:40 mins of a 5 mins fight or for 33%.

The portions of the fight during which we hardcast AI are much larger at higher gear levels where more haste on gear is available and haste trinkets are options. In these cases, even when still using AS as the focus dump when unhasted, you can easily be under dynamic haste effects for over 53% of the fight and casting AIs over those periods. However, with enough static haste on gear (which is not currently feasible), you can get your unhasted AI cast time to below the about 1.4s, where its cast is fast enough to be preferentially used at the focus dump at all times (except when moving or in threat of cast interruptions).

As discussed later, since AI has higher priority for casting than CS, we are not constrained to a tight CS cycle over these periods. Furthermore, the ratio of AIs to SSs and the duration of the CS cycle will vary depending on the type of dynamic haste effect, whether we need to perform an extra SS on a particular cycle or not to balance focus, and whether we have a MMM AI proc or any of our high damage, instant cast abilities off CD. Because of the variation in cycles and less restrictions when casting AI as our focus dump and the possibility that we may cast ASs instead of AIs when cannot or should not safely cast AIs, it does not make sense to design your haste amounts around these cycles.

[top]5.8.4 Haste and Focus Regen

Base focus hunter regen is 4 fps. This is modified by your current total haste effects. The exception are that the 10% attack speed raid buff and the SF attack speed buff do not currently effect focus regen. For instance, with SF, the raid buff, and 10% haste from gear, your total haste is 39.15%, but only 10% of it affects your focus regen. Your focus regen at the haste is 4 * 1.1 = 4.4. When using RF on top of that, your haste is 94.81% (only 54.00% of that affects focus) with focus regen of 6.16. With Rapid Recuperation, your RF provides the equivalent of an additional 4 fps during its duration. Thus, the real focus regen during the RF in the above case is 10.16 FPS.

Your SS casts statically and during all dynamic haste effects regen a constant 23.32 (22.82 with the T14 4P) focus per cast up to the point where you SS cast is GCD capped. At this point, the focus per cast amount increases since you have the 23.32 focus per actual cast plus the additional focus regen from the time that the cast actually ended at that haste to the GCD boundary. See 5.8.2 Haste and Steady Shot for a table illustrating this situation.

Additional haste critical points are those that provide sufficient amount of focus regen where you can replace additional SSs beyond the 2 required to maintain ISS uptime needed periodically to maintain focus with an AI or AS. These points are much more complex to quantify since they depend on shot priority, attack speed, and other factors that are beyond the scope of what I want to discuss here. However, I do want to make you aware of that these points exist since you will probably periodically cross their thresholds when evaluating different gear and reforging options that may produce unexpected results in simulations or testing.

[top]5.8.5 Haste and Dire Beast

As mentioned previously, the number of attacks performed by Dire Beast is affected by haste. The table below shows how much total haste and haste from gear, assuming the 10% haste raid buff and/or Bloodlust is required for each additional DB attack. Note that the haste benefit from the T14 4P bonus or Steady Focus in general does not affect pet attack rates since they provide ranged haste. Likewise, RF does not affect the number of DB attacks either.

Note that further community testing seems to indicate that the number of DB attacks does not increase at discrete haste points but scales with haste consistently. Thus, at the 9.092% haste point, you can expect the 10th DB attack about 50% of the time. Thus, the table below just provides the points at which the odds switch to a higher probability for an extra attack.

Attack speed	Number of Attacks	Haste required	Haste from Gear	Haste from Gear – BL
2.000	8	0.00%	0.00%/0	0.00%/0
1.875	9	6.66%	0.00%/0	0.00%/0
1.667	10	20.00%	9.09%/3864	0.00%/0
1.500	11	33.33%	21.22%/9016	0.00%/0
1.364	12	46.67%	33.33%/14167	2.56%/1090
1.250	13	60.00%	45.45%/19319	11.89%/5053
1.154	14	73.33%	57.58%/24470	21.12%/9016

By default, with just the physical haste buff and no haste on gear, DB gets an extra 9th attack for free. To get the extra 10th attack requires a little more than 9.09% haste from gear or 3864 haste rating. Since the recommended haste ratings for MMs is getting as close to 12.93% as reasonably possible without the T14 4P and 9.09% with the T14 4P, we have a lot of synergy with this haste level and should make sure to have at least 3864 haste rating.

Without Bloodlust, extra DB attacks beyond the 10th are not obtainable in T14H gear. During BL and with the at least 9.09% haste from gear currently recommended, DB performs an extra 11th and 12th attacks. At 11.89% haste from gear, DB performs an extra 13 attack during BL. Although this haste level is achievable in T14H gear, it does not seem optimal in T14H gear with the T14 4P. You just have to give up too much in other stats for just under 2 DBs to be affected by BL for usually just 1 extra attack or for 2 extra attacks if using Readiness during the BL. Thus, I do not recommend shooting for this haste level currently but to keep it in mind in later tier sets where a much larger stat pool is available.

[top]5.8.6 Haste Calculations

For those unfamiliar with haste and how haste is calculated, here is a brief discussion. There are two types of haste effects. Those that provide haste ratings and those that are haste/speed percents.

Effects that provide haste rating are additive with each other. You add all of the haste rating together before dividing by 425 to get the haste percent from them. This includes haste rating from gear, gems, enchants, potions/elixers, and some procs, including those from haste trinkets. For instance if you have 5000 haste rating from gear, gems, and enchants, are using a Potion of Speed (500 haste rating), and have proced an ability that provides 3000 haste rating, you are currently operating at 9500 haste rating or about 22.35% haste.

Effects that provide haste percents are multiplicative. This includes Bloodlust, RF, the resulting haste from all of your haste rating, SF, the raid buff, and some procs. For instance, the total haste from the haste rating above (22.35%), SF (15%), and the raid buff (10%) is 1.2235 * 1.15 * 1.1 = 1.5477, which means you are experiencing 54.77% haste (although they add up to only 47.35%).

To calculate your SS cast time, just divide the base cast time of 2s by the haste amount. Hence, 2s / 1.5477 = 1.29s.

Your AI cast time can be calculated similarly by dividing its base cast time of 2.9s by the haste amount. Hence, 2.9 / 1.5477 = 1.87s.

Your autoshot speed can be calculated similarly by taking the weapon speed divided by the haste amount.

Finally, if it can be avoided, you do not want to stack dynamic haste buffs (RF and Bloodlust) since much of the haste will be well above the SS soft cap. You are better off staggering these effects so that you can be closer to the 1s GCD on SS more often since it gains you 2 shots per 10s CS rotation. Staggering the large dynamic haste effects also increases the periods over which casting AI is ideal.

[top]6.0 Gear and Raid Preparation

I'm not going to provide a full best-in-slot list here, for a few different reasons. Many tools are a good source of suggested best-in-slot gear. But here's some overall advice to help provide some guidance.

In general, for non-trinket slots, hunters want to choose gear with higher item level. The reason for this is that both range weapon DPS and agility, our two primary stats on gear, generally increase with item level. However, just do not blindly use a piece because it has higher item level since the secondary stats or the gem sockets and socket bonus can still make a difference.

Hunter epics have Agility, Stamina, and possibly AP in the case of weapons, and 2 out of the 5 secondary stats: crit rating, expertise rating, hit rating, haste rating, or mastery rating. Keep in mind a few rules of thumb, which are enough to get a quick estimate of the value of any piece:
• Higher item level gear is generally stronger. Agility usually increases very regularly with item level, so we have a predictable gain.
• More sockets are better (since they allow us to stack more Agility, primarily).
• Hit and expertise rating is the best secondary stat followed probably by crit or haste depending on the situation

Since the 5% Agility from Mail Specialization is a strong bonus, you should ignore leather gear.

To compare items more precisely and check for upgrades, I recommend using an addon that compares stats for you or a simulation tool, such as Female Dwarf or Simulation Craft.

[top]6.1 Gems

Concerning meta gems for your head slot, the best meta gem is the Agile Primal Diamond (+216 agility and +3% crit damage). Since it just requires 3 red gems to activate, it enables us to gem for agility as much as we can. We do not need a yellow or a blue shaded gem to activate the meta. We can gem all agility gems if desired; however, that is probably not the best option since there are many pieces with good agility socket bonuses with a yellow or blue gem slot.

For all other sockets, our default gem to use is the Delicate Primordial Ruby (+160 agi) since we want to stack agility.

To get good socket bonuses, then the recommended gems are:
Yellow socket: Deadly Vermillion Onyx (80 agi; 160 crit) or Deft Vermillion Onyx (80 agi; 160 haste) are good options with Adept Vermillion Onyx (80 agi; 160 mastery) being a lesser possibility
Blue socket: Glinting Imperial Amethyst (80 agi; 160 hit)

Note that since expertise rating is a red gem like agility that we almost never want to gem expertise since that would cost us more important agility. If you are short of the expertise cap, then trade off other secondary stats via reforge or enchants.

If you are short of hit on gear, note that you generally do not want to put Glinting (agi/hit) gems into your blue sockets that grant poor socket bonuses or Rigid gems (hit) into any socket. This is because you are sacrificing your #1 stat agility to get more of your #2 stat hit. This is not only a direct DPS loss but even a greater DPS loss over other available options. You are better off stacking the agility and then reforging the worse of your secondary stats to get the hit. An exception are cases where you are less than around 160 hit from cap and do not have any small hit reforge options. Adding a glinting gem in a blue socket with a good agility bonus and barely getting over the hit cap can be better than reforging a piece for hit and ending up well over the hit cap with more wasted stat points.

[top]6.2 Set Bonuses

[top]6.2.1 T14 Set Bonuses

The Tier 14 hunter set is called Yaungol Slayer’s Battlegear.

The 2-set bonus is CS does 15% more damage. This is a considerable bonus and makes wanting to use CS as close as possible off CD even more important. It is also potentially a considerable enough boost to CS where you want to cast SrS and CS during the CA phase. According to FD and SimC, it currently works out better to use SrS/CS instead of GT during the CA phase.

The 4-set bonus increases the haste bonus of SF by 10% from 15% to 25%. This haste increases our autoshot frequency and reduces the cast time of SS and AI. The increased autoshot rate not only results in more autoshots but also more chances for WQ procs. Since we only cast 2 to 3 SSs per CS cycle and the extra 10% haste only reduces SS cast time by about 0.12s a cast at most, this set bonus only saves us about 0.24s to 0.36s per CS cycle. That is not really enough of a savings to be able to perform any extra shots per CS cycle. Thus, we have two choices in regards to the savings per SS cast time:

1) Reduce some of the haste on gear to reduce the deadtime in the CS cycle
2) Cast an extra shot on certain CS cycles

Which works best depends on your situation. If you have latency or focus problems, you are probably best off reforging some of the haste to other stats but still leaving enough deadtime in the CS cycle to account for latency and reaction times.

If you have neither, than taking the extra shot per cycle is the best choice. You only need 9.09% haste from gear to support a tight CS cycle with the 4P bonus when performing 3 SSs a cycle. If you go to the 12.93% haste level at which SS is GCD caped during RFs, you get an extra 0.14s deadtime in the CS cycle. On cycles where you only do 2 SSs and replace the third with an instant cast shot, you would already have 0.33s of deadtime in the CS cycle on that cycle. At the higher haste level, that amount is increased to 0.47s. Thus, if your haste level is somewhere between these two amounts, this means that you only delay the CS cast by 0.53s to 0.67s on the 2 SS cycles. Even taken the low haste case, 3 of these only delay your CS cast by a total of 2s. Thus, although AS does so much less damage than CS (by a factor of about 3.3 when including the 3 ticks of SrS damage each CS cycle), you are getting 3 ASs for losing 2/9s of a CS or basically 13.5 additional ASs for 1 CS loss, which is much greater than a 3.3 ratio and making the CS delay a DPS gain.

The trade off is that you are spending more focus on those cycles that will probably require more 3 SS CS cycles to balance out, which will then reduce the numbers of ASs gained. The question then is whether we are really still gaining more than 3.3 ASs per 1 CS lost. I need to investigate this further, but I believe so.

Concerning the reduction of AI cast time due to the T14 4P, this is a nice bonus for when we are hasted and using AI. However, it is not enough of a bonus to make it worthwhile to use AI as the focus dump all of the time at the haste level reasonable achieved in T14H gear. 17.17% haste from gear is still required to get AI down to a 1.8s cast time to make it worthwhile using in the CA phase unhasted. 62.2% haste from gear is required to get the AI cast time down to the new 1.3s AI cast time criteria for using.

[top]6.2.2 T15 Set Bonuses

The Tier 15 hunter set is called Battlegear of the Saurok Stalker.

The 2-set bonus is Steady Shot has a chance to summon a Thunderhawk to fight for you for the next 10 sec.
The 4-set bonus is Arcane Shot, Multi-shot, and Aimed Shot have a chance to trigger a Lightning Arrow at the target, dealing 100% weapon damage as Nature.

Not much really to say on either of these abilities since they do not really affect our shot selection at all and are pretty much bonuses to our normal CS cycle rotation. Although it is true that the Thunderhawk increases the average damage of SS possibly making casting more SSs desirable, it is not enough to make SS spamming worthwhile, especially considering the increased damage to our focus dumps due to Lightning Arrow.

[top]6.2.3 T16 Set Bonuses

Not known yet.

[top]6.3 Consumables

Use Flask of Spring Blossoms (1000 agi).

Similarly use a 300 agi food, such as Sea Mist Rice Noodles.

The best DPS potion is Vitmen’s Bite (4000 agi for 25s). You want to use it during Rapid Fire or Bloodlust when you have more shots being performed. Prepotting works out nice since the benefit exists during the CA phase when SSs and AIs are hasted from RFs and almost guaranteed to crit.

[top]6.4 Enchants

Excluding profession bonuses, the best MM hunter enchants are:

Slot	Enchant Name	Enchant Stats	Comments
Shoulders	Greater Tiger Claw Inscription	200 agi and 100 crit
Back	Accuracy	180 hit	Although hit is the better stat, with reforging, it usually does not matter much which of these you use in most situations, although the choice can matter in some optimizing cases.
	Superior Critical Strike	180 crit
Chest	Glorious Stats	80 stats
Wrists	Greater Agility	170 agility
Gloves	Superior Mastery	170 mastery	With reforging, these are all basically equivalent. However, generally chose the stat you need the most to make any caps.
	Superior Expertise	170 expertise
	Greater Haste	170 haste
Belt	Living Steel Belt Buckle	prismatic socket	Ideally for a 160 agi gem.
Legs	Shadowleather Leg Armor	285 agi and 165 crit
Boots	Blurred Speed	140 agi and minor run speed
Range Weapon	Lord Blastington’s Scope of Doom	1800 agi proc on hit

[top]6.5 Optimizing Gear/Gems/Enchants/Reforges

Given all of the options we have for shuffling stats around now, it can be confusing to find the optimal way to select gear and gem/reforge it while remaining at the hit and expertise caps. Computational optimizers like Female Dwarf and Ask Mr, Robot can assist with this, but knowing the basic guidelines can save you a lot of time when going over your options.

This is a basic way to approach reforging that covers most situations:
1) In each slot, put on your best individual DPS item, ignoring the hit and expertise caps. This will generally be your highest item level mail item, preferring hit/expertise/crit over mastery/haste.
2) Gem in the way described earlier.

If you are under the hit or expertise cap of 2550:
3A) Start reforging mastery to hit or expertise as needed. If you still need more hit or expertise, then reforge crit or haste, if have more than you ideally need, to hit or expertise.
4A) If you still don't reach the hit or expertise cap, don't worry about it. It's generally not worth giving up agility (via gems or using lower item level gear) to get more hit or expertise rating but if you have a reasonable socket bonus you can gain by using a Glinting, then you may want to do so. Also, if you are left with a choice to be slightly below the hit or expertise caps by a small amount of way above the cap, it is generally better to be slightly below. 10 hit or expertise below the cap is only 0.03% of a chance to have an attack miss or be dodged, while 50 hit or expertise over is less DPS on every shot.

If you were over the hit or expertise cap of 2550:
3B) Start reforging hit or expertise to crit on pieces with haste and no crit and to haste on items without haste if you could use more.
4B) Then start reforging hit or expertise to mastery on any items without mastery

5) Once you are at hit or expertise cap, if any of your items are hit/mastery and unreforged, you can reforge the mastery to crit or haste as long as you stay in a good haste range
6) There's some possible further optimization by reforging haste/mastery to hit on some items and reforging the hit back to crit on others, but worrying about that is for the hardcore optimizers.

Note that the reforging suggestions above are those that play exclusively as MM. If you often switch specs, these suggestions may or may not be ideal for your other spec.

[top]7.0 Professions

The following professions are all roughly equal with most providing a 320 agility bonus each and are good options for MM hunters:

Leatherworking: 500 agi to bracers in place of the usual 180 agi enchant for plus 320 agility. Also get cheaper costs for leg armor and can make mail gear to wear.
Blacksmithing: An extra socket each in your wrists and gloves, each with 160 agi gem for plus 320 agi. This is slightly less by 10 agi than the benefit from Leatherworking with rare gems, but should be a gain by about 70 agi with epic gems. You can also create the Living Steel Belt Buckle and a weapon enchant for 200 expertise. Unfortunately, none of the weapons or armor that is crafted is useful for hunters.
Alchemy: Mixology with your flask will give you 320 agility. Besides being able to make potions, elixers, and flasks and being able to transmute gems and metals, you can also make a Zen Alchemist Stone for an early trinket benefit until it is replaced.
Enchanting: 160 agi to each ring gives 320 agility, slightly less than Leatherworking. Get to disenchant items and make your own enchants.
Inscription: Secret Tiger Claw Inscription (500 agi/100 crit) to shoulders in place of the Greater Tiger Claw Inscription for +320 agi. You can also make trinkets via the Darkmoon Cards and companion pets in addition to all the glyphs. Unfortunately, none of the crafted weapons or off-hands are useful for hunters.
Jewelcrafting: 2 Delicate Serpent’s Eye instead of 2 Delicate Primodial Rubies for +320 agi. However, one epic gems become available, then benefit is reduced by 80 agi to +240 agi. Jewelcrafting also allows crafted trinkets, which can allow you to have better trinkets earlier in the expansion until they get replaced. You can also make certain mounts and companion pets as well as cut gems. You can also craft some rare necklaces and rings.
Engineering: The synapse springs with the 1920 aqi use for 10s every minute is 320 agi on average. However, depending on when the springs are used and how often, the benefit could be better or worse than the static 320 agi. Engineering does have some other perks that increase survivability and may improve DPS uptime, including Goblin Glider or Watergliding Jets. Engineering does provide epic 476 helms and a 450 trinket with Cogwheel sockets to pick what secondary stats you want on it; however, these are obsolete in T14H content. Engineering has additional perks, such as being able to make your scopes, make certain mounts and companion pets, make a Wormhole Generator for ease of movement in Pandaria, make certain range weapons for use. You also get useful tinkers like a Goblin Glider,
Tailoring: Swordguard Embroidery gives 4000 AP for 15 seconds, 20% proc on hit, 60 second cooldown (check this). The average benefit is around 1000 AP versus the 180 hit or crit that would normally be on the cloak enchant. Its hard to quantify exactly how well this compares to the other professions. Those that provide 320 agi is comparable to 704 AP and 0.28% crit (or 168 crit rating). Since 168 crit rating is considered worth 2 AP that is 336 crit rating versus 296*1.1=325 AP, which is roughly equivalent. However, unlike most of the other profession perks which are static, this is a proc that can have greater or lesser benefits depending on when the proc occurs. Unfortunately, none of the crafted armor is useable by hunters. You can make larger bags though.

Herbalism Lifeblood is a haste and heal CD. At 2880 haste rating (6.78%) for 20s every 2 minutes, it averages out to 480 haste. This may seem small but you never get it as an average amount, you always get the full amount, which when used at proper times can provide a significant increase in DPS. Furthermore, it provides additional focus regen and some healing. Thus, Herbalism is potentially the best profession with proper Lifeblood utilization. The benefit will be lower early in MoP when our DPS is lower and less affected by haste.

The remaining professions are weaker:

Skinning: Gives 480 crit rating, which is well below 320 agi.
Mining: Provides minor survivability benefits via 480 sta, but no DPS gain.

[top]8.0 Marksmanship Priorities and Rotations

Before going into the MM shot selections, I want to mention two concepts that work together conceptually to maximize DPS – priority selection and rotations.

A priority is the hierarchy of one shot over another shot if both are currently available. Factors that determine whether a shot is higher priority includes:
- At the basic level, which does more damage. This analysis is not necessarily which does more damage per shot performed since a shot with slightly less damage may have a significantly shorter cast time and provide better DPS. Other considerations concerning damage is the damage per focus cost. Are you making the best use of your focus.
- The penalty of delaying one shot over another. Sometimes a higher damaging shot may need to be delayed for a lower damaging shot due to downstream DPS of the lower damage shot.

A rotation is a method for visualizing the shot priority over time with taking into account factors such as CDs, haste points, and focus balancing to maximize DPS over time. The rotations listed in this guide are ones for the ideal situations in which no latency, interruptions, or pushback occurs and the optimal rotation can be performed. These rotations are guideline goals to shoot for while playing the hunter but must be adapted to actual game play situations and personnel preference.

[top]8.1 Fight Phases

Every boss fight has 3 phases from a MM hunter perspective, where the abilities that we change. I call these:

Phase	Duration
Careful Aim (CA) Phase	Target health > 80%
Standard Phase (ST) phase	20% <= Target Health <= 80%
Kill Shot (KS) Phase	Target Health < 20%

The CA Phase is special since when the boss is over 80% health, SS and AI get a bonus 75% crit chance due to the Careful Aim passive ability. This additional crit chance not only directly affects the damage of these shots but also affects their damage due to PS. Since both shots are affected by haste, it is highly suggested to make the CA phase be under dynamic haste affects like RF as much as possible. The decreased cast time and increased average damage of SS and AI during the CA phase result in some abilities not being worth to cast during this phase since doing more SSs and AIs is higher DPS. Currently, SrS, CS, and GT are not performed in the CA phase.

The ST Phase is standard since it is the phase of the fight that applies for by far the largest portion of the fight, about 60%.

Final phase is called the KS Phase since that is the portion of the fight when KS is available for use. The only difference between this phase and the ST Phase is that KS is added to the MM arsenal.

[top]8.2 Additional Terms

There are a few additional general concepts that should be understood concerning hunter rotations and abilities. These include:

Passive Attacks: Attacks that are generally continuously performed by you while in combat and after initiating attacks. These include autoshot and standard pet attacks. Once you have initiated attacking a target, your autoshots are performed continuously at the current hasted speed of your ranged weapon as long as you maintain LoS to the target. Exceptions to this are abilities like AI that suppress your autoshots during its cast or channel (autoshot resumes after) or abilities like Scatter Shot that turn autoshot off. Once your pet has been sent to attack a target, it continues to do so until the target dies or you recall it. Your pet continuously performs its basic attack, its melee attack, and any of its special attacks that are enabled as they come off CD. Any ability where you have to hit a button to cause a single instance of it to be performed, such as Kill Command, is not a passive attack.

Passive Procs: A random attack or ability performed by you without having to take any specific direct action to cause them. These include our mastery bonus Wild Quiver, which randomly does bonus damage off our ranged attacks. Passive Procs also include the extra damage from Piercing Shots. Passive Procs also include the procs from trinkets and other equipment, such as a scope.

Single-Use Attacks/Abilities: Attacks or abilities in which only a single instance of it is performed per each initiation of the attack or ability. This includes most of our attacks and abilities listed previously, such as Chimera Shot, Hunter’s Mark, and Readiness. I classify these into five groups: Primary CDs, Focus Dumps, Focus Gains, Active Procs, and Utilities.

Primary CD: An attack or ability that has a CD and whose impact is significant enough that our rotations are designed around maximizing their number of uses. These abilities do not necessary have to be used immediately off CD, but it is generally best to utilize them shortly off CD. The Primary CD for MMs is Chimera Shot, with the goal to fit in as many other shots as we can between its uses. Another Primary CD, but of longer duration for MMs, is our Rapid Fire and Readiness. Kill Shot, Murder of Crows, Dire Beast, and Glaive Toss are also a Primary CDs when they are available. For AoE situations, Explosive Trap is the Primary CD ability.

Focus Dumps: A high damage ability that costs focus but does not have a CD so that we can use it as often as we want to utilize our focus. For MMs, the two focus dump choices for single target combat are Aimed Shot (AI) and Arcane Shot (AS). Although attacks like Chimera Shot (CS) do large damage and cost focus, they also have CDs, meaning that they are not focus dumps. For AoE situations, Multishot is the focus dump.

Focus Gains: A damage attack that has no CD and also causes us to gain focus as a result of the attack. For MMs, the Focus Gain is Steady Shot, which provides 14 focus per cast normally and 17 focus per cast when the SF buff is up.

Active Procs: A proc is a single-use ability that can only be performed if random conditions have occurred. For MMs, the primary active procs are our instant, focus free Aimed Shots from Master Masksman procs.

Utilities: All other attacks or abilities, regardless of whether they have a CD or cost focus. These are only used infrequently as a response to a certain situation and are not a part of the standard rotation. For instance, we normally do not use Tranquilizing Shot, but if there is an enraged target that needs to be calmed down, we can cast it on them. This also includes defensive and movement abilities like Deterrence and Disengage.

[top]8.3 Shot Priority

The following is the general priority order of MM shots on a single target with assuming that the target is marked with Hunter’s Mark. When out of combat, the next target to attack should be pre-marked using the Hunter’s Mark ability. While switching targets in combat, it is assumed that either you or another hunter in your raid has the Marked for Death glyph and will automatically mark the target.

The priority below is a guideline. The list below assumes that the talents Dire Beast, Murder of Crows, and Glaive Toss are selected. If you selected other talents, their precedence may not be the same as the talents listed; however, that is a good default order since the talents in a tier tend to serve similar purposes. Furthermore, your gearing, including stat levels, can affect which shots should be higher priority.

The CA, ST, and KS columns indicate whether the ability should generally be used in either of those phases. A “+” indicates that it should be used. The comments for each ability indicate if any exceptional cases exist. A “+” in the AoE column indicates that the ability should still be used in AoE situations.

Shot	CA	ST	KS	AoE	Comments
Serpent Sting	+	+	+		If not on the target and the target will live longer that 15s (initial estimate). Casting CS regularly should maintain the DoT so that SrS does not need to be ideally recast on the target.
Kill Shot			+	+	If target health < 20% and to proc the repeat KS use if the target does not die on the first cast. KS is lower than DB since it currently does less damage and provides less net focus. The exception to this rule is if the target is about to die since there is not enough time for DB to have it full effect. Since it is affected by Readiness, you want to use it generally before using Readiness. It is worth using KS on your primary target during AoE situations as long as there is less than 6 targets for MS or if you do not have enough focus for an MS.
Rapid Fire	+	+	+	+	Since RF decreases both your SS and AI cast times, you definitely want to use it during the CA phase when those two abilities should have around a 100% crit chance. RF is lower on the priority that any of the instant abilities since we want to maximize the number of RF GCDs used on SS and AI. Hence, its good to get the abilities with CDs that last longer than a RF pair out of the way before casting RF. RF is incredibly powerful in AoE situations since it generates a lot of additional focus for more MS. However, I generally do not use the CD during AoE situations unless the AoE situation is one that last sufficient enough time to make RF worth while and which needs to die as soon as possible; otherwise, I save RF.
Steady Shot pair	+	+	+	+	These are the SS casts to maintain the Steady Focus buff. You want to start the buff as soon as possible to increase your attack speed, although a suggested option is to cast a couple focus costing shots first. Otherwise, you will waste over 47 focus over the 2 SS casts. SS pairs for SF has a lower priority in AoE situations since the primary ability that the haste affects is autoshot. The SS pair does not need to be performed until needed to do so to provide sufficient focus to cast more MSs.
Murder of Crows	+	+	+	+	Murder of Crows is a great opener for several reasons. First, it currently does 2 to 3 times as much damage as the next closest MM ability not including Stampede. Thus, you want to cast it as many times in combat as possible. It also costs 60 focus, so it is great to use will starting at 100 focus and to allow some room on the focus bar for the initial SS pair to gain the SF buff. Since it is unaffected by haste, casting it before the SF occurs has no impacts. Furthermore, since it is affected by Readiness, you want to cast it before Readiness finishes the CD. However, do not bother to recast it until the first one is starting to fade about 25 to 30s after the first cast since the crows do not stack above the maximum amount for a single cast. Although MoC affects only your target, it is still useful to use in AoE situations since it does so much damage.
Dire Beast	+	+	+	+	Since Dire Beast is one of our highest damaging attacks and since it returns focus, we want to use it as often as possible in all phases of the fight. Since it costs not focus and returns focus, ideally we want to use it after an ability that costs focus. Since it is affected by Readiness, you want to use it generally before using Readiness. DB is great to use in AoE situations since the additional focus empowers more MSs.
Chimera Shot	+	+	+		Want to maximize number of CS casts. The exception to the CS priority is during the CA phase (target health > 90%) where CS does not need to be cast off CD but just soon enough to refresh SrS. CS is also cast at high priority to apply Hunter’s Mark via MoD glyph. Since it is affected by Readiness, you want to use it generally before using Readiness.
Glaive Toss		+	+	+	Generall, GT should be used off CD since it is a high damage attack that is instant cast and costs little focus. Obviously, this shot is not applicable until level 90. Since it is affected by Readiness, you want to use it generally before using Readiness. GT should be used in AoE situations due to the damage it does to secondary targets.
Readiness	+	+	+	+	Ideally Readiness should be used after casting all or most of your critical CD abilities so that they can be reused sooner. Readiness can be used in AoE fights, but I generally save it for single target fights since it is usually not needed in AoE situations.
Stampede	+	+	+	+	Since Stampede is effected by haste, you want to wait to cast it until after you have cast the SSs to get the SF buff and while RF or BL is up. Ideally, you want to cast it as soon into the fight as possible so that if the fight lasts longer than 5 mins, you can use it again. Note that since it has a 5 min CD, it is not affected by Readiness. Thus, you can wait to cast it after Readiness has been cast if you choose to do so. Stampede can be used in AoE situations, but since it affects only one target at a time, I usually save the CD for long single target fights.
Explosive Trap				+	ET should only be used during combat in AoE situations. May be a DPS boost in single target combat outside the CA phase over using Arcane Shot when off CD.
MMM Aimed Shot	+	+	+	+	Master Marksmanship instant cast, focus free AIs should usually be used as soon as possible after a proc, except in the middle of an SS pair to maintain the Steady Focus haste buff. However, although it does more damage than a lot of other abilities on the priority list, it is lower than many of them due to the fact that the ability does not have a CD and has a window of time in which it can be cast. It only needs to be cast before the 10s MMM buff wears off or before the next SS (besides the second in the SS pair to maintain the SF buff) so that the possibility for that SS to proc an MMM stack is not lost. MMM AI should still be used in AoE situations due to its large amount of damage to a single target. If there are more than 6 AoE targets for MS, do not use unless the MMM AI buff is about to fall off or if there is not enough focus for MS.
Arcane Shot		+	+		AS is your first focus dump option. These are focus costing abilities with no CD that do more damage generally that SS. AS is the default focus dump to use when not sufficiently hasted to make AI casts cost effective or when moving or in threat of pushbacks or interruptions. When AI is sufficiently hasted or during the CA phase during which it has +75% crit, AI hardcasts are the superior focus dump.
Aimed Shot	+	+	+		AI is the second focus dump option. AI should be used as the focus dump when AI is sufficiently hasted (cast time less than 1.4s guideline) or during the CA phase during which it has +75% crit as long as AI cast time is less than 1.8s. Note that MMM AIs should always be used in any situations in which they proc.
Multi-Shot				+	MS is the third focus dump option. MS is usually only the focus dump option in AoE situations. However, if you are currently using AS as the focus dump and there are at least two other targets around, then it is a DPS gain to use MS instead of AS.
Steady Shot	+	+	+	+	These are individual SSs (or even an extra SS pair) to gain focus when do not have sufficient focus for other abilities.

[top]8.4 Shot Comparisons

This section address some questions that have been asked over time concerning which shots to use. The summary is:

- For your focus dump:
-- Use Aimed Shot as your focus dump only when sufficiently hasted (below about 1.3s outside the CA phase and 1.8s inside the CA phase as a guideline) and when not experiencing interruptions or cast pushbacks
-- Use AS as your focus dump when you are unhasted, on the move, or when experiencing possible interruptions or pushbacks.
- During the CA phase, recommend using SrS and CS.
- During the CA phase, recommend using GT
- Steady shot spamming (not using any focus dumps and just casting CS and SS to get more MMM AI procs) is a DPS loss over using the proper focus dump for the current phase.
- KS is always a DPS gain when replacing AS; however, it may or may not be a DPS gain when replacing AI depending on your gearing, focus balancing, and haste levels. Currently with T13 gear, I suggest just adding the KS into the CS cycle with no shot replacement when casting AI as the focus dump.

For more detailed information for each case, refer to the pertinent subsection.

Note that most of the analysis below was performed using T14H heroic gear using FD.

[top]8.4.1 Aimed Shot versus Arcane Shot As Focus Dump

A primary debate is which shot should be used as our focus dump, Aimed Shot or Arcane Shot. From the analysis below using FD data for a T15H gear set and from in game observations, it is not 100% clear to me which should be used as the general focus dump all of the time since both have merits in different situations, but I believe that it should usually follow the general decision process below depending on your AI cast time.

When in the CA phase, use AI as your focus dump always.
When not in the CA phase:
- When AI cast time is > 1.7s, use AS
- When AI cast time is < 1.5s, use AI
- When AI cast time is between 1.5s and 1.7s, the choice of focus dump is preferential

Additional items that affect the decision on which focus dump to use include:
• The CA phase. AI should generally be used as the focus dump during the CA phase since almost every cast will be a crit, making its DPS much larger than AS’s. Since we should ideally be hasted for most (if not all) of the CA phase for most bosses, AI cast time should be below the criteria for casting it anyway.
• When moving AS should be used as the focus dumped since cannot cast AI while moving unless you have the Glyph of Aimed Shot. Note though that most movement phases should be small or allow pause periods when you can cast such that smart shot selection can reduce the number of AS for AI substitutions that must be made when moving and sufficiently hasted to cast AIs.
• When in threat of cast interruptions or pushbacks, using instant cast shots, like CS and AS, over the danger period can be a DPS gain. For instance, losing just 1 average AI outside the CA phase due to interruption can be a 365 DPS loss over a 5 min fight just from the lost shot plus additional potential DPS from lost WQ procs from that shot. Note though that if the danger is only pushback and the resultant AI cast after the pushback is still under the 1.5s guideline, then it is still generally better to use AI as the focus dump even if it is experiencing pushback.

From my FD analysis using the T15H gear cases for both the AI only and AS when unhasted focus dump cases, using AI as the focus dump always seems to be theoretically the worse choice with the amount of haste available in MoP by about -2800 DPS (stats in both these cases are close enough for direct comparison). Note that the gap between using AI s the focus dump all of the time and using AS when unhasted has decreased by about 1600. This is mostly due to the changes to increase AI damage reduce its cast time.

Note that due to the AI hardcast lockout and reset of autoshot that it is important to include an estimate of the lost autoshot DPS. In addition, the on average WQ damage from the shots in the comparison need to be accounted as well.

Here is the pertinent shot data from FD with including PS effects:

AI* 181137 257572 (CA phase)
CS* 197370
AS 62897
Auto 40885
WQ 31715 * 29.97% chance = 9505 WQ dmg per shot
SS* 30760 43740 (CA phase)
SrS 131123 total, 26225 per tick, 78674 over 9s, 104898 over 13s
Crit 52.64%
Thunderhawk 10084 (average damage per SS taken)
Lightning Arrow 11267 (average damage per focus dump)
* Numbers include PS.

Assuming that the AI cast lasts as long as 1.8 AS casts when under no dynamic haste effects (AI hardcast is 1.8s at about 9.79% haste from gear without the T14 4P), then for the scenario of losing about 1.5 autoshots per AI and without including the T15 set bonuses:

AI + WQ vs. 1.8 * AS + 1.5 * auto + 2.8 * WQ
190642 < 201160

The tipping point in this estimate where using AI unhasted is better than AS with the current shot numbers can be found via the following formula by solving for x:

AI + WQ = (x * AS) + 1.5 *auto + ( (1 + x) * WQ)

The AI cast time at which the tipping point occurs currently is 1.655s. This requires 19.42% haste from gear to accomplish without the T14 4P and 9.88% haste from gear with the T14 4P. With the T14 4P, that means that the situation to use AI as the focus dump all of the time is already possible and realistic. Without the T14 4P, the amount of haste needed is possible in all T15H gear but is probably pushing it in regards to good stat balancing. Hence, for the vast majority of players in T15 gear, using AI as the focus dump all of the time is not a good option. It will probably be a good option is T16 gear.

The analysis above does not account in the T15 set bonuses, which modifies the formula as the following with assuming here that the number of SSs (and thus Thunderhawk) is the same.

AI + WQ + LA vs. 1.8 * AS + 1.5 * auto + 2.8 * WQ + 1.8 * LA
201909 < 221441

The tipping point in this estimate is 29.15% haste from gear, which is not possible in T15H gear. Thus, in reality, we are not too the point with T15 gear to use AI as the focus dump all of the time. The AI cast time in T15 gear at which AI becomes the better option is 1.53s, which is still considerably higher than it was before 5.2.

But this is not the whole story since it only takes into account the direct damage comparison of the two shots and ignores the focus cost differences. At a 1.8s AI cast time, AI costs 14 focus more than the 1.8 ASs. At a 1.53 cast time, AI costs about 20 more focus, which is most of the focus generated over an SS cast. Due to the damage difference between AS and the extra SSs that have to be cast to support AI, the tipping point is actually somewhere lower.

Since I did not feel like taking the time to solve for the AI cast time taking into account the focus consumption by hand, I used FD to estimate it, and the value came out to be around 1.6s.

This is high enough where it is now beneficial to cast AI outside the CA phase during bloodlust, during RF, and possibly during some trinket procs that provide sufficient haste.

With using this estimate, here is how much haste from gear is required to make casting AI as the focus dump worthwhile when unhasted and during BL and RF outside the CA phase.

	Normal
AI Cast Time	1.6
Unhasted	23.52%
Bloodlust	0.00%
Rapid Fire	0.00%

During the CA phase where the average AI damage increases by about 80K and when we are usually under dynamic haste effects reducing its cast time, AI is clearly the superior choice as the focus dump. In fact the much larger AI damage during the CA phase makes it the superior focus dump choice even with 0% haste on gear and no dynamic haste effects.

[top]8.4.2 Aimed Shot versus Chimera Shot Priority

Another common MM debate is the priority of CS and AI. Is CS higher priority than AI and should be fired as soon off of CD as possible? Or is AI the priority with only needing to fire CS soon enough to extend SrS? During the CA phase is AI enough of a priority where we no longer want to cast CS and SrS during that phase? These questions are answered here.

In summary, AI damage outside the CA phase to just below CS damage, especially when including the 3 to 5 ticks of SrS between CSs. Along with AIs longer cast time and autoshot lockout, the recommendations are:
• Outside the CA phase, cast CS as soon as possible off of CD.
• During the CA phase, still use SrS and CS with casting CS just soon enough to maintain SrS. Casting CS sooner is only a very small DPS loss.

Here is the analysis using the same shot data as in 8.4.1:

Assuming that the AI cast lasts about 1.8s when under no dynamic haste effects (AI hardcast is 1.8s at about 9.79% haste from gear, 1.00% with the T14 4P), then CS and a partial SS can be cast during this time. At this haste, standard SS cast time is about 1.44s so about 55.5% of a SS can be cast in the remaining AI cast time after the CS. This analysis is done with assuming 1.5 autoshots are lost during the AI.

Outside the CA phase:

AI + WQ vs. CS + 0.44 * SS + 1.5 * auto + 2.44 * WQ
190642 << 309922

This clearly shows that when not in the CA phase or under dynamic haste effects that CS definitely has the priority by a large amount and should be cast off CD.

Now let us look at dynamic haste situations with using the best case scenario of a RF. At this additional haste, the AI cast time is 1.291, and the SS cast time is 1s. Thus, 0.291s of an SS can be cast during the extra AI cast time. The result is:

AI + 1 * WQ vs. CS + 0.291 * SS + 1.5 auto + 2.291 * WQ
190642 << 289428

Thus, during dynamic haste effects outside the CA phase, you still want to cast CS off CD when possible. Note though that in some situations where there is a lot of extra focus in the rotation with firing CS just off CD that it can be beneficial to extend the CS cycle a bit to fire an additional AI (and maybe a focus balancing SS) to utilize that extra focus.

During the CA phase, both the AI and SS damage is higher. The result when hasted enough for a 1.8s AI cast time is:

AI + 1 * WQ vs. CS + 0.44 * SS + 1. 5 * auto + 2.44 * WQ
267077 < 320306
267077 << 425205 (with 4 ticks of SrS)

With these numbers even when AI is hasted enough to be at the 1s GCD, it is stil worthwhile to cast CS and SrS. Also with factoring in the T15 set bonuses, there is a small benefit to the AI cast, but not enough to make a difference.

This indicates that during the CA phase, when you have slow AI cast times, that it is still worthwhile to cast SrS and CS. Even when your AI cast time is sufficiently hasted by BL or RF, then it is still beneficial to cast CS and SrS during the CA phase.

[top]8.4.3 Steady Shot Spamming vs. Arcane Shot outside the CA Phase

Another case that has been proposed is to only spam SSs between CS casts when not in the CA phase instead of using AS as the focus dump. This is not recommended.

It is possible that doing only SSs between CSs instead of using AS as the focus dump may be an increase in hunter only DPS. This is because although SS does less damage than AS, doing just SSs results in more MMM AI, which may make up for the lost damage of using SSs instead of ASs. However, a couple factors make the SS spam situation inferior to using AS to dump focus.

1) Although SS damage is not much less than AS damage, SS casts usually takes much longer than the AS GCD, actually making the cost of substitution higher. At the 5.4% haste level, SS casts are 1.5s, resulting in 3 AS casts only being able to be substituted by 2 SS casts. At the 12.93% level, SS casts are 1.4s, meaning that 3 AS casts can be substituted by only 2.14 SS casts. The T14 4P helps some by reducing the SS cast time more, but its not enough.

2) The comparison also needs to factor in that dynamic haste effects will favor the SS spam case over the using AS case since the dynamic haste effects reduce the SS cast time (up to the GCD) but not the AS cast time. However, since the recommendation is to use hardcasted AI while under very large dynamic haste effects where your SS cast time nears the AS GCD, this benefit for the SS spam case does not really exist since both cases should be doing the same shots while under large dynamic haste effects.

Hence, this trade off only really applies when not under dynamic haste effects and not in the CA phase. It also has less application during the KS phase where the addition of KSs results in less ASs to be substituted by SSs. Thus, the main phase to analyze is the Standard phase unhasted.

With using the tight CS-SSx3-ASx4 rotation at the 12.93% haste level to illustrate the change in hunter DPS, a MMM AI proc should occur on average every other cycle with just 2 SSs performed on those cycles, resulting in a CS-SSx2-ASx4-MMM AI proc on every other cycle. Thus, 4 ASs are replaced by 2.86 SSs, which we can round to 3 SSs for a CS-SSx6, with a 0.6s delay in the CS cycle. However, since we should get a MMM AI proc from every 5 SSs on average, this cycle should have a MMM AI proc every cycle and only have a 0.2s delay in CS cast, resulting in a CS-SSx5-MMM AI cycle every cycle.

Hence, the trade off is the average damage of the 4 ASs plus their average WQ damage versus the damage of the 2.5 SSs that can substitute for the ASs plus 0.5 of a AI plus the average WQ damage per shot for the SSs and AI.

4 * AS + WQ vs. 2.5 * SS + 0. 5 * AI
261093 >> 167468
306162 >> 198312 (with T15 set bonuses)

The comparison is not even close and is even worse if you include the CS delay in the SS case or when you include the extra average damage from the T15 set bonuses. Thus, despite that taking extra SSs beyond those needed for ISS and focus balancing in place of ASs results in more MMM AI procs, it is a loss in hunter damage due to the slightly higher damage of AS over SS and the fact that you can perform more ASs than SSs in a set amount of time. Even if you had sufficient haste to add in another SS, the AS case would still win out. Furthermore, at that haste level, you may be able to use AI as the focus dump anyway.

[top]8.4.4 Other Shots to Potentially Skip During the CA Phase

Considering that the average AI damage increases by a factor of about 1.42 in the CA Phase from 181137 to 257572 and that the average SS damage increases by the same factor from 30760 to 43740, when factoring in the PS damage, the question is whether it becomes worthwhile to drop any of the other standard shots from the priority during the CA phase.

We already discussed SrS and CS in 8.4.2. Here are recommendations on other abilities:

Murder of Crows: Since MoC does 556192 per cast, which is over twice the damage as AI, takes less time to cast than AI in most cases, and does not cost much more focus, you will always want to use MoC in the CA Phase.

Dire Beast: Since DB does comparable damage to AI at 225711, takes less time to cast than AI in most cases, and instead of costing 50 focus actually costs no focus and generates 35 focus, we definitely want to use it in the CA phase. Even if it did considerably less damage than AI, we would still want to use it since it is still a better option to use than extra SSs not needed for SF maintenance since it does more damage and generates more focus than an SS, with likely taking less time to perform.

Glaive Toss: Glaive Toss does considerably less damage than AI by almost 63%. In its benefit though is it only costs 15 focus and will usually take less time to use. Althought GT does comparable damage to CS, it does not have the benefit of the additional SrS DPS. Thus, we are generally going to not want to use GT in the CA phase.

[top]8.5 Rotation Options

This section discuss ideal rotation options. As a reminder, the MM shot selection is really a priority ordering, but to help to visualize how that priority ordering looks over time and to help to figure out optimal shot selections to balance focus over time and to derive desired haste plateaus, I create guideline rotations.

The basic overall premise of the MM rotation is to cast as many CSs and focus dumps (AIs or ASs depending on the fight phase or haste effects) as possible with weaving in our other major CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) and MMM AI procs while maintaining sufficient focus. To help accomplish this, you need to consistently maintain the SF buff to both reduce AI and SS cast time and increase focus gains from SS casts.

The following phase discussion will only focus on combat shots. They will not discuss pre-combat preparations since they do not apply generically. Also, the use of RF and Readiness will not be explicitly mentioned since their casts are done only when available; however, the effects of being under RF are discussed. The rotations provided are only in terms of CS, SS, and the pertinent focus dump since those are the only shots guaranteed to be available every cycle. The analysis generally assumes that MMM AI procs and the primary MM CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) replace a focus dump in the cycle when they are off GCD, although when using AI as the focus dump it is better for DB to replace a SS instead.

Note that these rotations are just an ideal set of shots that can be performed in any order with the constraints of maintaining the SF buff, shot CDs, and balancing focus. The focus balancing for these rotations are also average over time with including all of your other CDs. Depending on what CDs are performed on a given cycle, you may need to cast one less SS to prevent focus overcapping or one less focus dump since low on focus.

This section breaks our shot selections down by phase of fight (CA, Standard, or KS) since the phase affects the ideal shot selections that we would perform. The ideal shot selections are also affected by haste effects, so each phase section is further broken down by where we are unhasted or under the affect of BL or RF. Finally, since we have two focus dump options, rotations for each focus dump option are generally provided as well.

Although the standard phase is not the first phase of the fight, we will discuss it first since it is the largest part of the fight and is, well, the standard.

[top]8.5.1 Standard Phase Rotation Options

As a reminder, the Standard Phase is the portion of the boss fight between 80% and 20% boss health where CA is not in affect and KS is not available. This is by far the largest portion of the fight and the basis for the rest of the fight phases.

[top]8.5.1.1 Standard Phase Unhasted

This is the Standard Phase with no large dynamic haste effects. Since this situation is the one in which MMs spend the largest amount of time, it is the one that I use to initially determine optimal haste levels.

[top]8.5.1.1.1 Standard Phase Unhasted with AS as the Focus Dump

As discussed in 5.8.2.1, Haste and Steady Shot with AS as Focus Dump, there are limited haste values for a tight CS cycle during the Standard Phase unhasted. These are the following:
- 2 SSs in 3 GCDs requiring 5.40% haste
- 3 SSs in 4 GCDs requiring 18.58% haste
Neither of these cases are ideal since the first is really low on haste, while the second is really high, although it is becoming a viable option in T15H gear. In addition, with the focus regen from DB, the first will be slightly focus negative while the second is a little focus positive. Hence, we really should shot for a haste amount some where in between and sometimes do 2 SSs per cycle with having a little deadtime before the CS cast and others do 3 SSs with having a little delay in the CS cast. Since SS is GCD capped during RF at 12.93% haste, somewhere around that haste level is ideal.

At the compromise 12.93% haste level, the base two versions of the cycles look like:

CS-SSx3-ASx4
CS-SSx2-ASx5

However, these are not all the shots that we normally want to perform. Since it takes on average 5 SSs to proc an MMM AI, we can expect on average an MMM AI on about every other cycle since we are doing about 5 SSs per two cycles. The MMM AI proc directly replaces an AS cast, preferably in the cycle with only 2 SSs since it costs more focus. We also have several abilities that we use off CD. These are MoC, DB, and GT. Since these are also instant cast shots, they also replace an AS in the rotation when off CD. Thus, the cycles look more like that shown in the table below with the impacts of these other shots described after the table.

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx2-ASx5	-71	-47	0.2 deadtime
CS-SSx3-ASx4	-32	-4	0.2 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

As can be seen, the first cycle is a maximum DPS cycle since it performs the minimum number of SSs; however, its focus deficit is too large to be used routinely. The second cycle still has a slight negative focus and cannot be used consistently over time either.

MMM AI does more damage than AS and is also instant cast. Hence, it can replace an AS in the cycle when it procs without affecting the cycle timing. Whenever this replacement occurs, 20 focus is saved since the MMM AI proc costs no focus. The number of SSs cast per cycle affects the average number of MMM AI procs you can expect per cycle by the number of SSs / 5 and reduces the focus cost by 20 times the expected number of MMM AIs.

GT does more damage than AS and is also an instant cast and so can replace an AS in the cycle when off CD. With a 15s CD and about a 9s CS cycle, GT can be used roughly every a little more often than every other cycle. Since GT also costs 5 less focus then AS, it saves a little over 2.5 focus per cycle.

DB also does more damage than AS and is instant case and can be a direct replacement for an AS when it is off CD. Since the CD is 30s, we can do a DB roughly once every 3.3 cycles. Since DB costs no focus, we save the 20 focus cost of the AS and also generate a total of 35 focus per cast for a 55 focus total difference per cast. Thus, DB saves us about 16.7 focus per cycle.

MoC is the last ability routinely used. Once again since does more damage than AS and is also instant cast, it can directly replace an AS the cycle every 2 mins when it is off CD. Since MoC costs 40 more focus than AS but has a 2 min CD, meaning that it can only be used on like every 13th CS cycle, it results in an average of -9.2 focus per cycle.

Since not even the second cycle of the two is focus positive, we need to use it and an additional cycle that performs a 4th SS per cycle instead of an AS as shown below.

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx3-ASx4	-32	-4	0.2 delay
CS-SSx4-ASx3	+6	+40	0.6 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

Casting the 4th SS every cycle in place of an AS is a net gain of 43.32 focus per cycle. The small focus deficit in the first cycle can be eliminated by performing the second cycle roughly every 11th cycle. The additional SS does push back the CS CD a bit to 0.6s overall, but since it is rarely performed, I would not worry about the delay.

Additional haste from gear can reduce the CS delay and the focus deficit so that you have to perform the 4 SS cycle less often or not at all. About 18.57% haste from gear is needed to make the 3 SS cycle be tight, but even then it still has about a 3 focus deficit per cycle.

Since the 3 SS CS cycle is so close to being focused balanced, it works out that it is the CS cycle that is mostly often performed during the course of a fight with only needing to through in a fourth SS once in a while when unhasted.

[top]8.5.1.1.1.1 Standard Phase Unhasted, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

For the T14 4P case, only one option works well. That is doing 3 SSs in 4s, which requires only 9.09% haste from gear for a tight cycle. So essentially the rotation with the T14 4P is exactly the same as without it, with the differences being a tighter CS cycle despite needing less haste and slightly worse net focus due to the lower haste from gear amount required.

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx3-ASx4	-35	-6	tight CS cycle
CS-SSx4-ASx3	+4	+37	0.33 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

Additional haste adds a little deadtime to the 3 SS cycle but reduces the delay in the 4 SS cycle and helps with focus balancing so that you do not need to perform the 4 SS cycle as often.

[top]8.5.1.1.2 Standard Phase Unhasted with AI as the Focus Dump

It is not currently recommended to perform AI as the focus dump during the Standard Phase unhasted since it is a huge DPS loss since AI cast time has to be below at least 1.6s and probably lower to make hardcasting AI a possible benefit

[top]8.5.1.2 Standard Phase During Bloodlust

This is the Standard Phase while Bloodlust is active.

[top]8.5.1.2.1 Standard Phase During Bloodlust with AS as the Focus Dump

Note that with the reduced AI cast time that during BL that AI is now the preferred focus dump to use. However, since AI can be interrupted and since there are other reasons one may prefer to use AS on occasion during BL, I still include this section.

This analysis starts with the rotation when unhasted and sees how the additional haste from Bloodlust affects it. The result is:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx3-ASx4	-26	+3	0.77 deadtime
CS-SSx4-ASx3	+16	+44	0.69 deadtime

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

The 3 SS cycle becomes focus positive by a net average of 3 focus per cycle. Hence, it could be used every cycle during BL.

However, due to the large deadtime in the cycle and it not being worth waiting for CS longer than about 0.3s, we should cast that additional AS for more damage. However, since that cycle will be focus negative we need to add an AS to the 4 SS cycle too. With the extra AS, the rotations are:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx3-ASx5	-40	-11	0.23 delay
CS-SSx4-ASx4	-2	31	0.31 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

With the focus costs of each cycle, you can do about 3 of the 3 SSs cycles for every 4 SS cycle to balance focus. A little extra haste from gear will tighten up the CS cycle and improve focus balancing a little. About 21.6% haste from gear is needed to make the 3 SS cycle tight.

[top]8.5.1.2.1.1 Standard Phase During BL, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

Once again, we start with the same rotation as without the T14 4P but with the ideal haste amount for the T14 4P case to see how the additional SF haste affects the rotation.

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx3-ASx5	-43	-14	0.08 delay
CS-SSx4-ASx4	-5	27	0.10 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

The additional haste tightens up the rotation some where there is very little CS delay. However, do to the lower focus regen with less haste needed on gear, only about 2 3 SS cycles can be done per 3 SS cycle. Additional haste reduces the CS delay and improves the focus balancing. At about 11.89% haste from gear, both cycles are tight but a 2 to 1 ratio in cycles is still roughly required.

[top]8.5.1.2.2 Standard Phase During BL with AI as the Focus Dump

TBD

[top]8.5.1.3 Standard Phase During Rapid Fire

This is the Standard Phase while RF is active.

[top]8.5.1.3.1 Standard Phase During Rapid Fire with AS as the Focus Dump

This analysis starts with the rotation during BL and sees how the additional haste from RF affects it. The result is the following with the 12.93% haste from gear:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx3-ASx5	-1	+27	0 delay
CS-SSx4-ASx4	36	68	0 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

This results in a perfectly tight cycle since the SS cast times are the 1s GCD. Even the 3 SS cycles is way focus positive ay 27 focus per cycle when you take into account the extra focus regen from RR. This is over half of the 47 focus needed to cast another AS instead of an SS where it makes it worthwhile to use with the 3 SSs cycle as shown below.

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx2-ASx6	-38	-14	0 delay
CS-SSx3-ASx5	-1	+27	0 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

Both cycles are tight. To balance focus, about 2 2 SS cycles can be used for every 3 SS cycle. Considering that we can do about 1.67 cycles during a RF (about 3.33 for a RF pair), we lose about 18 focus during the RF with this cycle (36 focus for a RF pair). My opinion is that I would prefer to spend a little focus and go with the maximum DPS cycle during the RF and make up the focus after.

[top]8.5.1.3.1.1 Standard Phase Rapid Fire, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

Once again, we start with the same rotation as without the T14 4P but with the ideal haste amount for the T14 4P case (9.09% haste from gear) to see how the additional SF haste affects the rotation.

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx2-ASx6	-38	-12	0 delay
CS-SSx3-ASx5	-3	+25	0 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

Since SS cast time is at the 1s GCD in either case, this cycle is the same as without the T14 4P. The only small difference is that since this case has less haste on gear that the focus over the cycle is slightly less but still requires about 2 2 SS cycles for every 3 SS cycle.

Note that the benefit of the T14 4P is the lower haste requirement allows more stats in crit and mastery and also a slightly faster autoshot.

[top]8.5.1.3.2 Standard Phase During Rapid Fire with AI as the Focus Dump

It is not currently recommended to perform AI as the focus dump during the Standard Phase with Rapid Fire if you do not have the T14 4P since it is too costly to get enough haste from gear to get the AI cast time below 1.4s.

[top]8.5.1.3.2.1 Standard Phase Rapid Fire, AI Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

However, if you have the T14 4P, only 7.61% haste from gear is required to make to worthwhile to cast AI. Since I recommend at least 9.09% haste from gear for the T14 4P set, you should be able to cast AI during RFs. The ideal shot numbers are:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx4-AIx4	-71	-18	1.52 delay

CS-SSx5-AIx4|-44|+19|2.52 delay [/table]
* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

These cycles are roughly focus balanced when alternating them. There is a decent amount of delay in the CS cycle, which is fine with casting hasted AIs. Furthermore, a little bit of a delay is needed anyway to account for the difference of about 0.38s when an AI is replaced by an MMM AI proc or one of our other CDs. Even with the wildest scenario where all 4 of MoC, DB, GT, and MMM AI proc are available to replace all 4 AIs, you have a perfectly tight cycle for the 4 SS cycle and only a 1s delay in the 5 SS cycle. However, this case will never occur since when using AI as the focus dump, DB casts should replace an SS.

As a reminder, this is just the ideal average cycle, with all of the variables that can occur each cycle with all of the different CDs and MMM AI procs being available, you may need to cut an SS to prevent over capping of focus or cast an extra SS if too low on focus.

[top]8.5.2 Careful Aim (CA) Phase Rotation Options

The CA phase is the portion of the fight where the target is above 90% health such that the 75% crit bonus to SS and AI from Careful Aim is in effect. As discussed previously, this buff makes AI the preferred focus dump since with guaranteed crits and PS, AI does over 4 times the damage of AS. Furthermore, SS damage is similarly buffed to be about 66% of AS damage, with not including the additional damage from the MMM AIs due to casting SSs.

Since our preferred shots are cast time shots, it is preferred to have large dynamic haste effects like RF or BL during the CA phase to reduce the SS and AI cast times and allowing us to cast many more of these shots. This makes the CA phase by far the largest damage portion of a fight for a MM hunter.

Since AS is not the preferred focus dump during this phase, none of the rotations in this section will be for using AS as the focus dump. However, there are times, such as when having to move a lot, where you may need to use AS. In these cases, the rotations from the Standard phase still apply very well.

Also per 8.4.2 Aimed Shot versus Chimera Shot Priority, CS and SrS are only worthwhile to use during the CA phase if your SS and AI cast times are slow and unhasted but should be skipped when under dynamic haste effects. When using CS during the CA Phase, it only needs to be cast soon enough to refresh SrS. Furthermore, per 8.4.4 Other Shots to Skip During the CA Phase, GT is inferior to AI during the CA phase and should generally be skipped, with the exception being if there are other targets near the primary target that can be affected by it.

Finally, since the CA phase is the smallest phase of the fight, we do not design our haste levels for it primarily. Instead, the haste levels design for the Standard Phase when unhasted are assumed.

[top]8.5.2.1 CA Phase Unhasted

This is the Careful Aim Phase with no large dynamic haste effects. However, we want to be hasted during the CA phase as much as possible though to maximize DPS.

[top]8.5.2.1.1 CA Phase Unhasted with AI as the Focus Dump

The ideal rotation to use is the following at the 12.93% haste from gear level:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx3-AIx2	-52	-17	0.26 delay
CS-SSx4-AIx2	-29	+14	1.66 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

You can use the two cycles roughly equally to balance focus. Note that since the AI casts are at 2.03s, replacing just 1 AI cast in the 3 SS cycle with a MMM AI proc, MoC, or GT can result in 0.77s of deadtime in the CS cycle where you are better off to just add in the ability as an extra shot.

[top]8.5.2.1.1.1 CA Phase Unhasted, AI Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

For the T14 4P case at the 9.09% haste from gear, the rotation for the case without the T14 4P looks like:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx3-AIx2	-55	-20	0.13 deadtime
CS-SSx4-AIx2	-32	+11	1.20 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

To balance focus, about 2 of the 4 SS cycles are needed for every 3 SS cycle. Furthermore, with the long AI cast times, you are better off during the 3 SS cycle to just add in any abilities off CD or any MMM AI procs to avoid even larger deadtimes in the cycle.

[top]8.5.2.2 CA Phase During Bloodlust

This is the CA Phase while Bloodlust is active.

[top]8.5.2.2.1 CA Phase During Bloodlust with AI as the Focus Dump

This analysis starts with the rotation when unhasted and sees how the additional haste from Bloodlust affects it. However, since analysis shows that CS can be ignored during the CA phase with hasted AI, an AI replaces the CS in the cycle. Since we do not have a CS cycle, deadtime and delays do not exist. The result is:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	Duration
SSx3-AIx3	-53	-18	7.92s
SSx4-AIx3	-29	+14	8.99s

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

As can be seen you basically want to do about 1 AI for every SS. Doing so results in about 6 focus lost on average per SS-AI pair. Since an SS cast gains about 23 focus, you just need to perform an extra SS roughly every 4th SS-AI pair.

Once again, this is just the average combinations. With the randomness of MMM AI procs and the other CD abilities replacing SS and AI casts, sometimes you may need to cast an extra AI to prevent overcapping or SS when focus is low.

[top]8.5.2.2.1.1 CA Phase During BL, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

Once again, we start with the same rotation as without the T14 4P but with the ideal haste amount for the T14 4P case to see how the additional SF haste affects the rotation.

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	Duration
SSx3-AIx3	-56	-22	7.54s
SSx4-AIx3	-33	+9	8.56s

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

The additional haste tightens up the rotation by about 0.4s on average. However, it also results in lower focus regen. You can still roughly do 1 SS for every AI but now need an extra SS about every 3rd SS-AI pair.

[top]8.5.2.3 CA Phase During Rapid Fire

This is the CA Phase while RF is active.

[top]8.5.2.3.1 CA Phase During Rapid Fire with AI as the Focus Dump

This analysis starts with the rotation during BL and sees how the additional haste from RF affects it. The result is the following with the 12.93% haste from gear:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	Duration
SSx3-AIx3	-23	+11	7.35s
SSx4-AIx3	+4	+46	8.35s

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

Besides the additional haste tightening up the cycle, the extra 4 FPS from RR makes the cycles way focus positive. In fact now with doing a SS-AI pair, on average you gain about 5 focus per pair. This means that you can either skip a SS every 5th pair or add an AI every 7th pair. Since each SS-AI pair takes 2.45s, you can do about 12 pairs in a RF pair.

[top]8.5.2.3.1.1 CA Phase Rapid Fire, AI Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

Once again, we start with the same rotation as without the T14 4P but with the ideal haste amount for the T14 4P case (9.09% haste from gear) to see how the additional SF haste affects the rotation.

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	Duration
SSx3-AIx3	-27	+8	7.14s

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, and GT) and MMM AI

With the T14 4P, each SS-AI pair is about 0.07s faster but only generates about 4 focus per pair. This means that a SS can be skipped every 7th pair or an extra Ai can be cast every 9th pair.

[top]8.5.3 Kill Shot Phase Rotation Options

As a reminder, the Kill Shot (KS) Phase is the portion of the boss fight between under 20% boss health where KS is available. In general, the rotations from the Standard Phase apply with KSs replacing ASs since they are both instant cast shots but KS does a lot more damage (almost 3 times as much). Since KS also saves 20 focus for every AS it replaces, not as many SSs are needed for focus balancing.

Also recall that although KS has a 10s CD, if it fails to kill the target, the CD resets with a 6s CD on the reset. Hence, you can theoretically do 2 KSs every 11s, but it actually takes a little longer since it takes time for the server to confirm that the target did not die before resetting the CD. Thus, I prefer to place a shot between them for 2 KSs every 12s or roughly 1 KS per 6s during this phase. This means that on average we can do 1.5 KSs per 9s CS cycle, saving us roughly 30 focus per cycle.

[top]8.5.3.1 Kill Shot Phase Unhasted

This is the KS Phase with no large dynamic haste effects.

[top]8.5.3.1.1 KS Phase Unhasted with AS as the Focus Dump

The corresponding rotation from the Standard Phase with including KS impacts looks like:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx3-ASx4	-32	26	0.2 delay
CS-SSx4-ASx3	+6	+70	0.6 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) and MMM AI

Since even the 3 SS cycle wastes 26 focus per CS cycle, we can do that cycle and the minimum 2 SS cycle as shown:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx2-ASx5	-71	-17	-0.2 deadtime
CS-SSx3-ASx4	-32	26	0.2 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) and MMM AI

To balance focus, you can roughly do 3 2 SS cycles for every 2 3 SS cycles.

Also note that the 12.93% haste is perfect for this case since it balances the deadtime and delay in the CS cycles for the 2 Ss and 3 SS cycles.

[top]8.5.3.1.1.1 KS Phase Unhasted, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

Starting with the cycles for without the T14 4P, the results with the T14 4P at 9.09% haste is:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx2-ASx5	-73	-19	-0.33 deadtime
CS-SSx3-ASx4	-35	24	0 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) and MMM AI

In this case, the delay in the 3 SS cycle is eliminated, but the deadtime in the 2 SS cycle is increased by 0.13s. To balance focus, you can roughly do 5 2 SS cycles for every 4 3 SS cycle.

[top]8.5.3.1.2 KS Phase Unhasted with AI as the Focus Dump

It is not currently recommended to perform AI as the focus dump during the KS Phase unhasted since it is a huge DPS loss since AI cast time has to be below at least 1.6s and probably lower to make hardcasting AI a possible benefit

[top]8.5.3.2 KS Phase During Bloodlust

This is the KS Phase while Bloodlust is active.

[top]8.5.3.2.1 KS Phase During Bloodlust with AS as the Focus Dump

This analysis starts with the rotation when unhasted and sees how the additional haste from Bloodlust affects it. The result is:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx2-ASx5	-63	-9	0.85 deadtime
CS-SSx3-ASx4	-26	33	0.77 deadtime

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) and MMM AI

Due to the large deadtime in both cycles and it not being worth waiting for CS longer than about 0.3s, we should cast an additional AS for more damage. However, since that cycle will be focus negative we need to add an AS to the 4 SS cycle too. With the extra AS, the rotations are:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx2-ASx6	-77	-22	0.15 delay
CS-SSx3-ASx5	-40	19	0.23 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) and MMM AI

With the focus costs of each cycle, you can do about equal amounts of the two cycles with just needing to do an extra 4 SS cycle one. A little extra haste from gear will tighten up the CS cycle and improve focus balancing a little. About 21.6% haste from gear is needed to make the 3 SS cycle tight. At that haste level, the focus costs are almost balanced as well.

[top]8.5.3.2.1.1 KS Phase During BL, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

Once again, we start with the same rotation as without the T14 4P but with the ideal haste amount for the T14 4P case to see how the additional SF haste affects the rotation.

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx2-ASx6	-80	-25	0.05 delay
CS-SSx3-ASx5	-43	16	0.08 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) and MMM AI

The additional haste tightens up the rotation some where there is very little CS delay. However, do to the lower focus regen with less haste needed on gear, only about 3 3 SS cycles can be done per 2 2 SS cycle. Additional haste reduces the CS delay and improves the focus balancing. At about 11.89% haste from gear, both cycles are tight but a 3 to 2 ratio in cycles is still roughly required.

[top]8.5.3.2.2 KS Phase During BL with AI as the Focus Dump

It is not currently recommended to perform AI as the focus dump during the Standard Phase with Bloodlust active since it is a huge DPS loss since AI cast time has to be below at least 1.4s and probably lower to make hardcasting AI a possible benefit. Even with the T14 4P, that low of an AI cast time requires over 15.88% haste from gear (at least 6750 haste rating). In T14H gear, it is a DPS loss to get that extra haste.

[top]8.5.3.3 Kill SHot Phase During Rapid Fire

This is the Kill Shot Phase while RF is active.

[top]8.5.3.3.1 Standard Phase During Rapid Fire with AS as the Focus Dump

This analysis starts with the rotation during BL and sees how the additional haste from RF affects it. The result is the following with the 12.93% haste from gear:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx2-ASx6	-30	+16	0 delay
CS-SSx3-ASx5	-1	+57	0 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) and MMM AI

This results in a perfectly tight cycle since the SS cast times are the 1s GCD. Even the maximum DPS 2 SS cycle is way focus positive at 16 focus per cycle when you take into account the extra focus regen from RR. There will be focus overcapping on this rotation during a RF, but there is no way to prevent it while still having AS as the focus dump and doing the minimum 2 SSs to maintain SF.

[top]8.5.3.3.1.1 KS Phase Rapid Fire, AS Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

Once again, we start with the same rotation as without the T14 4P but with the ideal haste amount for the T14 4P case (9.09% haste from gear) to see how the additional SF haste affects the rotation.

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx2-ASx6	-40	+14	0 delay
CS-SSx3-ASx5	-3	+55	0 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) and MMM AI

Since SS cast time is at the 1s GCD in either case, this cycle is the same as without the T14 4P. The only small difference is that since this case has less haste on gear that the focus over the cycle is slightly less so that not as much is over capped each CS cycle.

Note that the benefit of the T14 4P is the lower haste requirement allows more stats in crit and mastery and also a slightly faster autoshot.

[top]8.5.3.3.2 KS Phase During Rapid Fire with AI as the Focus Dump

It is not currently recommended to perform AI as the focus dump during the Standard Phase with Rapid Fire if you do not have the T14 4P since it is too costly to get enough haste from gear to get the AI cast time below 1.4s.

[top]8.5.3.3.2.1 KS Phase Rapid Fire, AI Focus Dump Impacts of the T14 4P

However, if you have the T14 4P, only 7.61% haste from gear is required to make to worthwhile to cast AI. Since I recommend at least 9.09% haste from gear for the T14 4P set, you should be able to cast AI during RFs. The ideal shot numbers are:

Shot Numbers	Net Focus	Net Focus*	CS deadtime/delay
CS-SSx3-AIx4	-127	-55	2.52 delay
CS-SSx4-AIx4	-71	+12	1.52 delay

* Net focus when including average use of CDs (MoC, DB, KS, and GT) and MMM AI

These cycles are roughly focus balanced when doing 5 of the 4 SS cycles for every 1 3 SS cycles,. There is a decent amount of delay in the CS cycle, which is fine with casting hasted AIs. Furthermore, a little bit of a delay is needed anyway to account for the difference of about 0.38s when an AI is replaced by an MMM AI proc or one of our other CDs. Even with the wildest scenario where all 4 of MoC, DB, GT, and MMM AI proc are available to replace all 4 AIs, you have a perfectly tight cycle for the 4 SS cycle and only a 1s delay in the 5 SS cycle. However, this case will never occur since when using AI as the focus dump, DB casts should replace an SS.

As a reminder, this is just the ideal average cycle, with all of the variables that can occur each cycle with all of the different CDs and MMM AI procs being available, you may need to cut an SS to prevent over capping of focus or cast an extra SS if too low on focus.

[top]9.0 Pets

This section discusses pets in general for the Hunter class and the MM spec. Items presented include pet specs, pet abilities, and buffs/debuffs provide by each pet type.

[top]9.1 Pet Statistics

A hunter’s pet inherits many of its stats from the hunter as indicated in the table below.

Statistics	How Inherited	Comments
Crit	100% of hunter crit	Hence, the higher your crit, the higher your pet’s chance to crit. Note that the crit rate inherited is the amount on your tool tip and does not include modifiers from spells like CA.
Hit	50% of hunter hit and 50% of hunter exp	This means that just being hit capped does not make your pet hit capped. You must be both hit and expertise capped for your pet to be hit capped.
Exp	50% of hunter hit and 50% of hunter exp	This means that just being exp capped does not make your pet exp capped. You must be both hit and expertise capped for your pet to be hit capped.
Haste	100% of hunter melee haste	The more non-ranged haste we have the faster our pets auto attacks are.
Dodge	100% of hunter dodge	PvE hunters do not usually worry about dodge, but if you are pet tanking on a fight you may need to do so.
Parrry	100% of hunter parry	PvE hunters do not usually worry about parry, but if you are pet tanking on a fight you may need to do so.
Armor	TBD
Health	TBD
AP	TBD
Mastery	0% of hunter mastery	Hunter mastery does not apply to our pet’s. In general, our pet’s do not do ranged attacks that could proc or perform WQ.

[top]9.2 Pet Specs

Hunter pets have 3 specs – Ferocity, Cunning, and Tenacity. Any pet can be assigned to any of the 3 pet specs. When you choose a spec for your pet, the pet automatically gets a set of 4 to 5 abilities. The following subsections provide additional information on each pet spec.

[top]9.2.1 Ferocity Pet Spec

The Ferocity pet spec is the primary DPS spec for hunter pets. It provides the hunter pet with the following abilities:

Spell	Description	Comments
Dash	Increases your pet's movement speed by 80% for 16 sec. Costs 30 pet focus and has a 32s CD	This spell is nice for quickly getting your pet to its current target to increase pet DPS uptime. I usually leave this pet spell on autocast.
Heart of the Phoenix	When used, your pet miraculously returns to life with full health. 8 min CD.	The ability for a free pet resurrection every 8 mins as opposed to needing to spend at least 6 times as long casting Revive Pet, increases both your pet and your DPS uptime if need to revive a dead pet.
Rabid	Increases your pet's attack power by 50% for 20 sec. 2 min CD	Instead of autocasting Rabid, it is often beneficial to create a macro with casting it with other abilities that increase pet DPS so that its benefit will stack with other increases like haste, crit, and/or mastery.
Spiked Collar	Passive ability that increases the damage done by your pet's Basic Attacks by 10%, increases your pet's haste by 10%, and increases your pet's critical strike chance by 10%.	This ability is what makes the steady state damage of a Ferocity pet higher than other pet specs.

[top]9.2.2 Cunning Pet Spec

The Cunning pet spec is the utility spec for hunter pets. It provides the hunter pet with the following abilities:

Spell	Description	Comments
Boar’s Speed	Passive ability that increases your pet's movement speed by 30%.	Getting to new targets faster increases DPS uptime and pet DPS. On top of Dash, this ability has limited benefits in PvE since I do not believe that it stacks with Dash (need to check) and since your pet should be getting to targets soon enough with dash and not switching to far away targets more often than every 16s.
Bullheaded	Removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your pet, and reduces damage done to your pet by 20% for 12 sec. 3 min CD.	Nice PvP spell with limited benefit in PvE.
Cornered	Passive ability that when the pet is at less than 35% health, it does 50% more damage and has a 60% reduced chance to be critically hit.	Not too useful in most PvE situations since your pet should rarely be below 35% health. However, it could save a pet’s life in some situations and do a little more DPS as well.
Dash	Increases your pet's movement speed by 80% for 16 sec. Costs 30 pet focus and has a 32s CD	This spell is nice for quickly getting your pet to its current target to increase pet DPS uptime. I usually leave this pet spell on autocast.
Roar of Sacrifice	Protects a friendly target within 40 yards from critical strikes, making attacks against that target unable to be critical strikes, but 20% of all damage taken by that target is also taken by the pet. Lasts 12 sec with a 1 min CD.	This is more of a PvP ability, but it can be useful in PvE in some situations to help a raid member survive a large hit or several hits in a row.

As can be seen, Cunning pets do not have the DPS abilities to keep up with a Ferocity pet; however, the Cunning pet does provide some utility that can be useful in some situations.

[top]9.2.3 Tenacity Pet Spec

The Tenacity pet spec is the tank spec for hunter pets. It provides the hunter pet with the following abilities:

Spell	Description	Comments
Blood of the Rhino	Passive ability increases all healing effects on your pet by 40%, increasing your pet's armor by 20%, and reduces your pet's chance to be critically hit by melee attacks by 6%.	This ability essentially makes your pet uncrittable and increases its survivability.
Charge	Your pet charges an enemy with 8 to 25 yards away, immobilizing the target for 1 sec, and increasing the pet's melee attack power by 25% for its next attack. Costs 35 focus and has a 25s CD.	Similar affect to a Warrior’s charge.
Great Stamina	Passive ability increases pet’s total health by 12%	More health increases survivability.
Last Stand	Your pet temporarily gains 30% of its maximum health for 20 sec. After the effect expires, the health is lost. 6 min. CD.	Similar to the Warrior’s version, allowing the pet to survive a big hit.
Thunderstomp	Shakes the ground with thundering force, doing Nature damage to all enemies within 8 yards. This ability causes a moderate amount of additional threat. 10s CD.

As can be seen, the abilities of the Tenacity spec, allows the pet to survive more damage than other pet specs.

[top]9.3 Pet Types and Buffs/Debuffs

A hunter has many pet types, all with various shapes and skins, from which to choose to tame a pet to fill up one of their 25 slots for stabling pets. 20 of these slots are kept at the stable that can be accessed by talking to the Stable Master in many cities. 5 of these slots are for your mobile stable that can be accessed by the spells Call Pet 1 to Call Pet 5. You can only tame a pet if at least one of your mobile stable slots is empty.

Since every pet type can be of any pet spec that the hunter chooses, a hunter is more likely to be able to raid with the pet of their choice and still provide the needed functionality since all pets of the same spec are basically identical. The exception to this situation is that certain pet types provide certain raid buffs or target debuffs. If your raid is missing an important buff or debuff, it is important to utilize a hunter pet that can provide the needed buff or debuff. Even if your raid has all of the buffs or debuffs covered, there are still situations in which you may want to choose a pet for its buff or debuff. These are situations in which the raid may be divided. You may be going out of range of a critical buff provided by another raid member where it would be beneficial for you to provide the buff as well. Or you may be on a different target from a raid member that provides some critical debuffs, where it would be beneficial to you and the raid to provide that debuff on that target. To maximize personal and raid DPS, please consider not only your raid’s overall buff and debuff coverage, but also the coverage in different boss strategy scenarios.

The tamable pet types and the buffs or debuffs that each provides is listed below. Note that any hunter pet listed as “exotic” can only be tamed or used by a hunter in a BM spec; hence, these pets are not available to the MM hunter and are not provided fully in this guide. A list of these pets are provided at the end of this section.

The pet types available to MM hunters and their buff or debuff are:

Pet Type	Buff/Debuff	Name	Description
Bat	Stun Debuff	Sonic Blast	Emits a piercing shriek, stunning the target for 2 sec. 1 min CD. This is a similar debuff provided by a Wasp.
Bear	Weakened Blows Debuff	Demoralizing Roar	The bear roars, reducing the physical damage caused by all enemies within 8 yards by 10% for 15 sec. 10s CD.
Beetle	Shield Wall Pet Buff	Harden Carapace	Hardens up, reducing damage taken by 50% for 12 sec. 1 min CD. Also provided by a Turtle.
Bird of Prey	Disarm Debuff	Snatch	The bird of prey grabs the enemy's weapons and shield with its talons, disarming them for 10 sec. 1 min CD. Also provided by a Scorpid.
Boar	Physical Vulnerability Debuff	Gore	Your boar gores the enemy, causing it to take 4% increased physical damage for 30 sec. 10s CD. Version also provided by a Ravager.
Carrion Bird	Weakened Blows Debuff	Demoralizing Screech	Same as Bear’s Demoralizing Roar.
Cat	Mastery Buff	Roar of Courage	The beast lets out a roar of courage, increasing the mastery of all party and raid members by 3500 within 100 yards. Lasts for 1 min. 45s CD.
Crab	Movement Debuff	Pin	Pins the target in place for 4 sec. 40s CD. This is a similar debuff provided by a Dog or a Spider.
Crane	Sleep	TBS	TBS
Crockolisk	Movement Speed Debuff	Ankle Crack	Snap at the target's feet, reducing movement speed by 50% for 6 sec. 10s CD. This is a similar debuff provided by a Warp Stalker.
Dog	Movement Debuff	Lockjaw	Dog locks its jaws on the target, holding it in place for 4 sec. 40s CD. This is a similar debuff provided by a Crab or a Spider.
Dragonhawk	Magic Vulnerability Debuff	Firebreath	Breathes Fire on the target, increasing magic damage taken by 8% for 45 sec. 30s CD. Also provided by a Wind Serpent.
Fox	Spell Cast Speed Debuff	Tailspin	Your fox twirls its tail around, kicking up an obscuring cloud of dust, causing all enemies within 10 yards to have their spell cast speed increased by 50% for 30 sec. 10s CD. Similar effect as that from a Goat and Sporebat.
Goat	Spell Cast Speed Debuff	TBS	TBS. Similar effect as that from a Fox and Sporebat.
Gorilla	Interrupt Debuff	Pummel	Pummel the target, interrupting spellcasting and preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 2 sec. 30s CD. Also provided by a Moth. A Nether Ray provides a shorter more frequent version.
Hyena	Attack Speed Buff	Cackling Howl	The hyena lets out a cackling howl, increasing the melee and ranged attack speed of all party and raid members within 100 yards by 10% for 2 min. 1.5 min CD. Also provided by a Serpent.
Monkey	Blind Debuff	Bad Manner	Hurls a handful of something special at the target, blinding them for 4 sec. Rude. 1 min CD.
Moth	Interrupt Debuff	Serenity Dust	The moth's wings produce a cloud of dust that interrupts the enemy's spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 4 sec. 1 min CD. Also provided by a Gorilla. A Nether Ray provides a shorter more frequent version.
Nether Ray	Interrupt Debuff	Instantly lashes an enemy, interrupting spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 2 sec. 40s CD. Similar to ability provided by Moth and Gorilla.
Porcupine	AoE Paralyze	TBS	TBS
Raptor	Armor Debuff	Tear Armor	Tears at the enemy's armor with the raptor's talons, causing Weakened Armor. 25s CD. This is a similar debuff provided by a Tallstrider.
Ravager	Physical Vulnerability Debuff	Ravage	Violently attacks an enemy, causing the enemy target to take 4% increased physical damage for 25 sec. 15s CD. Version also provided by a Boar.
Scorpid	Disarm Debuff	Clench	The scorpid clenches the enemy's weapons with its claws, disarming their weapons and shield for 10 sec. Also provided by a Bird of Prey.
Serpent	Attack Speed Buff	Serpent’s Swiftness	Increases the melee and ranged attack speed of all party and raid members within 100 yards by 10% for 2 min. 1.5 min CD. Also provided by a Hyena.
Spider	Movement Debuff	Web	Encases the target in sticky webs, preventing movement for 5 sec. 40s CD. This is a similar debuff provided by a Dog or a Crab.
Sporebat	Cast Speed Slow Debuff	Spore Cloud	Dusts nearby enemies with spores, reducing the casting speed of all enemy targets within 6 yards by 50% for 10 sec. 8 s CD. Similar effect as that from a Fox and Goat.
Tallstrider	Armor Debuff	Dust Cloud	Your tallstrider kicks up a cloud of dust, causing all enemies within 10 yards to be afflicted by Weakened Armor. 25s CD. This is a similar debuff provided by a Raptor.
Turtle	Shield Wall Pet Buff	Shell Shield	The turtle partially withdraws into its shell, reducing damage taken by 50% for 12 sec. 1 min CD. Also provided by a Beetle.
Warp Stalker	Movement Speed Debuff	Time Warp	Slows time around the enemy, reducing their movement speed by 50% for 6 sec. 15s CD. This is a similar debuff provided by a Crockolisk.
Wasp	Stun Debuff	Sting	Your wasp stings the target, stunning them for 2 sec. 45s CD. This is a similar debuff provided by a Bat.
Wind Serpent	Magic Vulnerability Debuff	Lightning Breath	Breathes lightning, increasing magic damage taken by 5% for 45 sec. 30s CD. Also provide by a Dragonhawk.
Wolf	Crit Buff	Furious Howl	The wolf lets out a furious howl, increasing the critical strike chance of all party and raid members by 5%.

The exotic pets not available to the MM hunter are:
• Chimera
• Core Hound
• Devilsaur
• Quilen
• Rhino
• Shale Spider
• Silithid
• Spirit Beast
• Water Strider
• Worm

Here is another form of the buff/debuff table:

Type	Effect	Source
Buff	Attack Power	The hunter via TSA
	Critical Strike	Wolf
	Mastery	Cat
	Physical Haste	Hyena, Serpent
	Spell Haste	The only buff hunters cannot provide
	Spell Power	Must be a BM via a Water Strider
	Stamina	Must be a BM via a Silithid
	Stats	Must be a BM via Shale Spider
Debuff	Magic Vulnerability	Dragonhawk, Wind Serpent
	Mortal Wounds	The hunter via Widow Venom
	Physical Vulnerability	Boar, Ravager
	Slow Casting	Fox, Goat, Sporebat
	Weakened Armor	Raptor, Tallstrider
	Weakened Blows	Bear, Carrion Bird
Other	Bloodlust	Must be BM via a Corehound
	AoE Damage	Must be a BM via Chimaera or Worm
	Battle Rez	Must be a BM via Quilen
	Water Walking	Must be a BM via Water Strider
	Heal	Must be a BM via Spirit Beast
	Shield Wall	Bettle, Turtle
	Interrupts	Gorilla, Moth, Nether Ray
	Stuns	Bat and Wasp
	Short CC	Basilisk, Crane, Monkey, Porcupine
	Disarm	Bird of Prey, Scorpid
	Slow Movement	Crocolisk, Warp Stalker
	Root	Crab, Dog, Spider
	Knockback	Must be a BM via a Rhino

[top]9.4 Pet Attacks

Each pet has 3 possible attacks that it can perform – Auto Attack, Basic Attack, or Special Ability.

[top]9.4.1 Pet Auto Attack

The pet’s auto attack is similar to the hunter’s Auto Shot, and often called its melee attack. Once the pet starts attacking, it will continue auto attacking. The rate of auto attack is dependent on hunter haste. Hence, the more haste that the hunter has, the more frequently the pet will auto attack.

[top]9.4.2 Pet Basic Attack

A hunter pet type has one basic attack of the 3 possible basic attacks – Bite, Claw, and Smack. Most pet types use Bite. Which basic attack that a pet type uses though does not matter since they are identical abilities that do the same damage at the same rate.

Each basic attack costs 25 pet focus and has a 3s CD with a 1.5 GCD. Thus, if your pet performs its basic attack off CD, it is consuming about 8.33 pet FPS. Hence, if the pet’s average focus regen is less than 8.33 FPS, your pet becomes focus starved and cannot perform the maximum possible number of basic attacks in combat. Hence, it is important to keep your pet properly supplied with pet focus so that it can maximize its DPS.

[top]9.4.3 Pet Special Attack

A pet’s special attack is the ability that it performs to apply a buff or debuff as listed in section 4.3. These abilities cost no focus to cast and they do incur a GCD when performed. Hence, it is generally safe to keep these abilities on autocast so that maximize buff uptime is achieved. Exceptions to this rule apply for special attacks that require specific timing to maximize their benefit, such as the Attack Speed Buff, the Interrupt Debuff, and possibly others. These are recommended to be kept off autocast and performed as needed. In general, special attacks with CDs less than their durations are meant to be up at all times and should be on autocast.

[top]10.0 Other Information

[top]10.1 Movement

Movement will always be a negative situation for a MM hunter compared to a standstill fight; however, we have many tools to limit the adverse effects of moving. These include:
- If needing to move for a long mostly continuous duration, Aspect of the Fox will allow you to still cast your SSs while moving, which is important due to all of the benefits our SSs have to our rotation. However, due to the large loss of AP from not using Aspect of the Hawk and the current GCD, this is not recommended except for extended movements.
- We have plenty of instant cast attacks that can be utilized if we have sufficient focus. For dumping focus while moving, AS, AI instants, MoC, CS, GT, and DB should be utilized instead of AI casts.
- Disengage for a quick movement out of trouble or to where you want to be.
- Aspect of the Cheetah/Pack are nice for extended movement, especially if not attacking during the movement period.

It is important to understand all the tools that you have available as a hunter and how they can be utilized in various scenarios.

[top]10.2 Tools and References

Warcraft Hunter’s Union: A good source of hunter guides.
WoW Hunter’s Hall: Great source of summary information and links to other hunter community sites.
Zeherah’s Hunter DPS Analyzer (Female Dwarf): A good hunter simulator.
Petopia: A great source for hunter pet information.
Wowhead: A great source for general WoW information.

[top]11.0 History

8/27/2012: Initial release for MoP. Also made some changes later that day concerning the level 60, 75, and 90 talents.
9/22/2012: Updated the Quick Reference Guide for MoP release. Updated the Detailed Guide up to and including section 4 for MoP release.
9/23/2012: Updated sections 5, 6, and 7 for MoP release.
10/3/2012: Updated the rest of the guide.
10/16/2012: Updated the guide for the change to AI damage calculations in the 10/12 hot fix. The impact is just a small increase in MM DPS and now wanting to ignore GT during the CA phase, unless there are additional targets to be hit by it than just the primary target.
11/29/2012: The quick reference guide has been updated for 5.1. The detailed guide will be updated as I have time soon but most of information in it is still accurate besides just clarifying the 5.1 changes.
3/4/2013: Made initial 5.2 changes to the quick guide. Detailed analysis and further updates in work.
3/11/2013: Updated the detailed guide up to section 8.5 and made recommended haste level update in the quick guide.

Well, its not really the fact that you "save" GCDs that matters but the fact of the overall DPS benefits of using those GCDs for these abilities over using AS.

Using data from FD at level 90 (since that is what I am more concerned about):

MoC: 381615
BS: 81338
LR: 234863
AS: 43235
SS: 16495 (with including PS)

The direct DPS benefit of using each instead of AS is the following with not including the benefits from Readiness:

MoC: (381615 - 43235) / 120 = +2820 DPS
BS: (81338 - 43235) / 20 = +1905 DPS
LR: (234863 - 43235) / 90 = +2130 DPS

On this factor alone - MoC is clearly the leader now.

Add on top of this the benefit of Readiness. Over a 5 mins fight, you can use Readiness once for an extra use of each ability:

MoC: (381615 - 43235) / 300 = +1128 DPS
BS: (81338 - 43235) / 300 = +127 DPS
LR: (234863 - 43235) / 300 = +639 DPS

Over a 6 mins fight, you can use Readiness twice. With assuming that these 2 uses result in two more uses of each of these abilities:

MoC: (381615 - 43235) * 2 / 360 = +1880 DPS
BS: (81338 - 43235) * 2 / 360 = +212 DPS
LR: (234863 - 43235) * 2 / 360 = +1065 DPS

As can be expected, Readiness uses favor the high damage long CD abilities much more than the lower damage lower CD abilities.

The final factor is the possible DPS gain from the additional focus costs or savings:

MoC: Each use costs 40 focus over an AS. Over a 6 min fight with Readiness, you can do 5 MoCs. This costs an additional 200 focus that has to be made up by doing extra SSs instead of ASs. Since each use of SS instead of AS is about a 20 + 17 = 37 + 1 (for the regen over the extra cast time) = 38, this requires 5.26 more SSs over the fight. However, these SS casts lose about 1.75 GCDs costing 2 ASs at worst. I will assume that only 1 AS is actually lost due to the extra SS casts, meaning that the real extra focus costs is 180, requiring 4.74 extra SS for AS replacements in addition to the 1 lost AS.

((16495 - 43235) * 4.74 - 43235) / 360 = -472 DPS

BS: Each use saves 20 focus over an AS. With a 20s CD, you can do 18 BSs over a 6 min fight, so 20 with Readiness. This is a total focus savings of 400 focus over the fight, allowing us to cast about 10.53 ASs instead of SSs. These replacements save about 3.5 GCDs for normal SS cast time. With accounting for RF and BL for some of these SS, lets say that 2 GCDs are earned. This is 2 more ASs and 40 more focus costs, meaning that we can really only replace about 9.47 SSs with ASs:

((43235 - 16495) * 9.47 + 43235 * 2) / 360 = +944 DPS

LR: Each use saves 20 focus over an AS. With a 1.5 min CD, you can do 6 over a 6 min fight with Readiness. This is a total focus savings of 120 focus over the fight, allowing us to cast about 3.16 ASs instead of SSs. These replacements save about 1 GCD, costing an extra 20 focus and allowing only 2.63 AS for SS replacements.

((43235 - 16495) * 2.63 + 43235) / 360 = +194 DPS

So with including the direct damage benefits of each ability over using an AS with factoring in Readiness and the AS for SS (or vice versa) swaps and extra GCDs and ASs that are gained or lost, the rough DPS benefit of using each is:

MoC: 2820 + 1880 - 472 = +4228 DPS
BS: 1905 + 212 + 944 = +3061 DPS
LR: 2130 + 1065 + 194 = +3389 DPS

So from this "quick" napkin math, MoC is clearly the favorite currently, with LR next and BS last. The large damage of MoC and LR are greatly favored by Readiness while BS benefits from its focus savings requiring less SSs to be cast.

FD seems to roughly agree with this with showing MoC as the best with LR -1100 DPS behind and BS -2600 DPS behind.

Anyway, its a good thing that I did not update the complete post for LR being better since the Rabid nerf (which is already included in the FD data in this post) puts MoC back on top for MMs.

Good point. I mean to put something in about how MoC works, and that is how I have been playing it and modeling it, but it appears that I did not. I will put better explanations now that we know its behavior better once the 5.1 version comes out.

Note that FD does model this behavior correctly and will not use the 2nd MoC until 30s after the first. And although its true that you can have double MoC with Readiness and have it be worth while, Readiness still gives you the second MoC 90s earlier than without Readiness and is still a large DPS boost.

I have completed updating the rest of the guide for current game play.