For Razorscale I've been firing arbitrarily, keeping my pet at my side. Mostly, I've been used on spear gun duty.
XT - Exact same. My raid knows as BM I'm better kept single point than AOE, so I'm just a frost trap thrower for scrap bots. But we have like 4 mages per raid so we have AoE to spare.
Ignis - Downed him 3 times now. He's a joke, really. Especially now with the nerf. Your pet wont have any issues.
Assembly of Iron - Commonly known as the Iron Council. We haven't downed them yet, best we've had is two down, with the caster left up and we wipe. Again, no real issues keeping the pet up. You may have to nudge your tank a little to get him further from the Death Runes so your pet isn't clipping it. That was the biggest issue I had, and I use a Devilsaur. I've found that calling and resending gets your pet to adjust his location on the mob, so if you're quick with pet managment, Death Runes won't cause much headache.
All in all I have to say they did a great job on BM in 3.1. They definitely made us competitive again. Went from mid range on the DPS charts to top 5 every time.
Same here, we're raiding 10m about 6 hours a weeks.
I was a SV, but now there's just too much crap to watch for (procs/CDs) while learning the new content. The shot rotation/priority feels like a flat tire as well, so I'm now a BM/MM.
So far, I'd say Ignis favors BM, if only for the time spent in the pot doing nothing. Razorscale, favors MM (with Hawkeye) as Razorscale usually lands in blue fire so unlucky fire spots would kill a pet. XT depends on what your raid needs: AoE might favor MM with Volley, but BM burning XT/Heart is probably better use. Kologarn probaly doesn't matter as long as someone doesn't drag beams onto your pet. Auriaya is a miserable fight for hunters in general (very hard to stay out of melee range at times), BM is probably the best way to make the most of it.
As a side note, I have found the Glyph of KS works great. There are very few fights that don't require target switching, so being able to pop off a KS on an add and then one back on the main target is great--it's not just about getting more KS on the boss.
I don't use SS glyph just because of all of the movement. It's the SS that gets left out when I have to get off a death rune, or out of fire, or move into/out of range.
Similarly, I took the SrS glyph over AotH, because autoshots only work when standing still. Sometimes the few extra autos could do a bit more damage, but not having to worry about SrS for an extra 6 seconds makes life easier.
Granted, it's new content and I'm probably spending more time running around than I have to, but for now that's what works best for me.
My pet was randomly dying in p2, so I'm very sure it is due to rocket strikes that I simply cannot see due to how far away I am. Usually the melee call out when one is on them and you have to pull your pet out if you hear that. There are big gaps between phases that let even a sv hunter res their pet.
SAuriaya is a miserable fight for hunters in general (very hard to stay out of melee range at times), BM is probably the best way to make the most of it.
I have heard this argument from quite a few hunters, and it still does not make sense to me. What is preventing you from staying 5 yards away from the boss? And I just start my volley cast when she is casting swarm, and I get massive aoe dmg aswell. I can stay in top3 fairly easy like this.
I have heard this argument from quite a few hunters, and it still does not make sense to me. What is preventing you from staying 5 yards away from the boss? And I just start my volley cast when she is casting swarm, and I get massive aoe dmg aswell. I can stay in top3 fairly easy like this.
Drop an explosive trap before swarm as well - even more DPS. You can drop right at your feet since you are so close to her.
I have heard this argument from quite a few hunters, and it still does not make sense to me. What is preventing you from staying 5 yards away from the boss? And I just start my volley cast when she is casting swarm, and I get massive aoe dmg aswell. I can stay in top3 fairly easy like this.
The boss isn't the problem, it's everything else going on. I wish the fight was just about staying 5 yards away from the boss, that would be very Nax-like. Maybe we just have less experienced raiders than you, (none of us did the test realm) but the guardian is all over the place, the boss is always shifting, there's the holes to dodge, running around corners to get LoS, bad camera angles from the walls, raid fear--it's just a very busy fight with a lot of elements that aren't friendly to hunters. At least as a BM, your pet has very good melee DPS (compared to other hunters at least) and you could still do your volley trick. BTW... How do you start channeling Volley without being able to see where to target where the swarm will pop out?
The boss isn't the problem, it's everything else going on. I wish the fight was just about staying 5 yards away from the boss, that would be very Nax-like. Maybe we just have less experienced raiders than you, (none of us did the test realm) but the guardian is all over the place, the boss is always shifting, there's the holes to dodge, running around corners to get LoS, bad camera angles from the walls, raid fear--it's just a very busy fight with a lot of elements that aren't friendly to hunters. At least as a BM, your pet has very good melee DPS (compared to other hunters at least) and you could still do your volley trick. BTW... How do you start channeling Volley without being able to see where to target where the swarm will pop out?
I'm not sure what strategies your raid uses but the MT should never have to move unless he's feared or is standing in a void zone. Same for you; unless you're feared or are in a void zone, you have no reason to move.
Your raid, minus the tanks and melee, should be stacked on top of eachother. Whoever is (trying to) tank the guardian should be dragging it away when it's about to die so the void zone is less likely to hit the raid.
I'm not sure what strategies your raid uses but the MT should never have to move unless he's feared or is standing in a void zone. Same for you; unless you're feared or are in a void zone, you have no reason to move.
Your raid, minus the tanks and melee, should be stacked on top of eachother. Whoever is (trying to) tank the guardian should be dragging it away when it's about to die so the void zone is less likely to hit the raid.
yeah that's the theory, and I guess it comes down to practice. I gave my raiding situation and the short list of bosses should be a clue as to my PoV--so everyone can take my posts with a grain of salt.
Between the fears, required movement, and the guardian pouncing the group i.e. getting into melee range, the fight isn't great for hunters compared to the other fights leading up to this one. I stand by my statement that BM is probably the best way to make the most of a tough fight.
OK. how does a BM do Mimiron?.. My pet was dying so much, esp in phase 2, that I finally gave up and filled in my 2nd spec as SV and plugged in a spam macro just so I could do decent dps...
We pounded our heads against Mimiron for about 3 hours, finally getting to phase 4, but my pet was pretty useless as BM... help!
For Mimiron:
Phase 1 - you don't have to keep your pet out of shock waves. If it's fully raid buffed it will survive and with judgement of light, raid heals, bloodthirsty, etc - it will be back to full health before the next shockwave. This is almost true for SV and MM hunters too, but if yer pet is missing fort or you don't give it mammoth treats, it will die. I find that speccing my pet in to Dash is very beneficial as SV.
Phase2 - This is a little tricky for BM, but here's my suggestion. Trade out a steady shot every now and then for a mend pet. The AOE damage shouldn't be an issue. The main problem is making sure your pet doesn't get hit by red rockets or by the lazer barrage. This is where BM hunters have to be pro at keeping an eye on their pets. In my raid, people will call out in vent when the red rocket is on the melee. When I hear this, I immediately pull my pet out (using a macro). When lazer barrage comes, I pull my pet back as well.
Phase3 - no issue for pets, usually for phase3 I change my pet from passive to defensive. Then back to passive for phase4.
Phase4 - this phase just sucks for pets. I find it almost impossible to keep an eye on my pet, so if he gets hit by an unlucky red rocket... well that's what heart of the pheonix is for. I still pull him out during lazer barrage and I will throw a mend pet if I see him taking aoe damage.
Oh, and here's the macro I use. I find it incredibly useful for being quick with sending pet in and pulling it out.
/pet attack
/petfollow [target=pettarget,exists]
Bind that to a hotkey. If you hit that when your pet isnt' attacking, it will attack that target. If you hit it when your pet is already attacking something, it will come back to your side. Remember though, this won't work if your pet is on defensive while you're attacking something. It will try to come back to your side and then immediately go back to attacking the target you're attacking. However, if it's on passive, it will run right to you and wait until you hit it again. I also find it very useful for when i have to switch targets quickly.
My question to you dual-speccing BM hunters - what are your gem and enchant priorities? Obviously BM favors atk power while MM and SV favor agility. Most of us min-maxers went SV when BM was nerfed so all our gear and gems were picked with the thought process that 1 agi > 2 ap. So what I'm wondering is, which do you prioritize and why?
I prio Agi, mainly because that is my main spec, but also because the benefit of Agi over AP in Surv is greater than the benefit of AP over Agi in BM. And who knows, I might go MM too at some point where Agi also wins out, so I stick with that.
My question to you dual-speccing BM hunters - what are your gem and enchant priorities? Obviously BM favors atk power while MM and SV favor agility. Most of us min-maxers went SV when BM was nerfed so all our gear and gems were picked with the thought process that 1 agi > 2 ap. So what I'm wondering is, which do you prioritize and why?
Ideally you'd have gear sets for each spec. Failing that, you just have to mix and match to the best of your ability. If you're SV 90% of the time, then it makes the most sense to stick with Agi gems. The more often you spec into BM, the more you'll want to adjust into AP. If you're really a min-maxer, then I'm sure you have the spread sheet.
I have been using SV with replenishment as my second spec, as I am needed by my guild for replenishment at times. I changed all my red gems over from Attack Power to Agility. Using the spreadsheet, I saw that I lose only 2.02 dps per gem specced BM, while I gain 5.31 dps per gem as SV by using Delicates over Brights. Yes, ideally you would want two sets (haste is another issue), but I am not sure it's enough of a difference to be worth spending the gear points.
As to the Mimiron question -- I fought him for the first time this weekend in 10 man. I found I had enough of a job keeping myself alive, so I resorted to using my SV spec and dismissing my pet for the first two phases. I called him out for phase 3, and let him do what he could before dying in phase 4. Eventually I hope to use him for the whole fight, when I get it figured out better.
My question to you dual-speccing BM hunters - what are your gem and enchant priorities? Obviously BM favors atk power while MM and SV favor agility. Most of us min-maxers went SV when BM was nerfed so all our gear and gems were picked with the thought process that 1 agi > 2 ap. So what I'm wondering is, which do you prioritize and why?
I have all my red gem slots filled with Agil, and my gloves and cloak enchanted with Agil as well, I've been wondering myself how much of a boost switching to AP would give me. I finally got a copy of Excel to use the spreadsheet and after switching out the Agil gems for AP it came out to only about 8 DPS higher with the AP gems. Now take that with a grain of salt, I'm still figuring out the spreadsheet and it's very possible I may have done something wrong.
I have all my red gem slots filled with Agil, and my gloves and cloak enchanted with Agil as well, I've been wondering myself how much of a boost switching to AP would give me. I finally got a copy of Excel to use the spreadsheet and after switching out the Agil gems for AP it came out to only about 8 DPS higher with the AP gems. Now take that with a grain of salt, I'm still figuring out the spreadsheet and it's very possible I may have done something wrong.
That seems about right. In my experience with the spreadsheet, while AP has shown an advantage with BM, the advantage over AGI has been very slight, and at certain gear levels AGI is ahead even for BM. If you are gemmed up for AGI it's probably not worth changing, and certainly not if your dual spec is SV.
Regardless shouldn't all BM hunters be gemming for Armor Pen instead? I thought they were the best gems for BM hunters now, and if you don't duel spec then you won't ever have to worry about re-gemming.
Your answer is in there, just stare down the barrel.
Hmm... I have also been considering a pet-tanking build to take for a few fights instead of the SV build. I've made the decision that my pally will be my main toon in our 10-man groups, and I'll bring my hunter out for the 25-man raids on weekends. With that, I think speccing BM will be fine, as I'll have the buffs needed, and have more healing around. I can see a few fights where having the pet-tanking spec might be useful to handle extra adds. Thoughts?..
Sure, I could go lol-SV in 10-mans if 2 other tanks are there, but either I'm tanking, or my pally can go ret and do 3500dps that way. Seems like BM might just be better suited for 25-mans in my guild (where I don't need my pally there since there will be about 8 tanks to choose from...).
Regardless shouldn't all BM hunters be gemming for Armor Pen instead? I thought they were the best gems for BM hunters now, and if you don't duel spec then you won't ever have to worry about re-gemming.
You probably misinterpreted something. Armor Pen can be better for BM hunters than the other specs (because most of their shot damage is physical), but Armor Pen is not the best stat for any hunter. Armor Pen can be better than haste, hit (if capped) and even crit, but it tends to be behind AGI and AP.
Ok im new here. i wanted to ask something. I know i heard it was somewere in this thread (atleast i think it was this thread) but i went crosseyed trying to look for it. Is there a addon that can help a BM hunter find certin pets? like the hard to find ones. Please help me. Would rahter have a add on then a macro but will take both. Thank You for your help.
Petopia is a fabulous guide to all things hunter pet - including links to wowhead so you know where to look for them - but it's neither a macro nor an addon. I have never heard of either being used to "find" pets - unless /target <rare pet name> counts.
There used to be a mod that would track Rare spawns & record the time & date you saw them I have no idea what it was called sorry. Also there is one called Rare Spawn Overlay which "Shades the area of all Northrend and Outland maps with the location of Rare Spawns." Hope this helps.
There used to be a mod that would track Rare spawns & record the time & date you saw them I have no idea what it was called sorry. Also there is one called Rare Spawn Overlay which "Shades the area of all Northrend and Outland maps with the location of Rare Spawns." Hope this helps.
NPCScan is actually useless to find tameable rare spawns, as it doesn't track those - because they are tameable. NPCScan works by alerting you when a specific NPC ID gets written into your creature chache, and a tamed beast has the same ID as the original creature, so NPCScan's alarm would go off every time you encountered a hunter with a rare spawn pet.
SilverDragon is perhaps what you were searching for, it adds map notes to spawn loactions of rare monsters (if a map addon like cartographer is present).
05/02/09, 6:57 PM
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