Some advice needed- BM hunter- still a newbie

[bunni12]

Hi I am a BM Hunter- I got to level 80 just before the cata content and worked my way to 85 playing grouped with my hubby's priest. I admit to playing purely for the social side and the pets.

I am in a good guild now and in my old guild had just started doing ICC content and had just geared for it at level 80. (Old guild broke up at Cata)

I am not a confident hunter by any means and have a I-Level of 335 at the moment. I have not done a lot of the cata content dungeons and want to do some more raids with the new guild eventually (need a higher I lev 1st)

I have been building my stable up and use and like my spirit beasts a lot, Lokkeigh (Loque-Nahak) Glowbear (arcturis) and like the shale spider and the slithids buffs. Suggestions for which pets when also of use to me and their talents or any pets I have that would be more useful.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/h ... /bunni/pet

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/h ... nni/simple

Could experienced BM hunters take a look at my gear and suggest a useful rotation. (I do admit to using spellflash addon).
In a raid I can put out about 6500 dps on a good day. I tend to lead with Hm- pet attack- then whatever lites up on the spell flash. Any macros either???

Any advice useful.

Thanks

Bunni

[Wigumoto]

I still consider myself a newb so maybe don't take this as gospel until someone more experienced comes along to confirm it but my rotation goes something like...

Hunters mark & serpent sting to start, Bestial Wrath - Kill Command - Arcane Shot until Kill Command comes back up then Ferver or spam Cobra Shot a couple of times to regain focus. Then it's kinda rinse and repeat.

Kill Command is your priority normally, Arcane Shot can be spammed until you run low on focus. Aspect of the Fox comes in super handy for dungeon bossess where you have to keep moving to avoid damage spots but need to fill up your focus at the same time. Focus Fire and Rapid Fire help you get Cobras off quicker.

That almost sounded like I know what I'm talking about

[Golden]

Hey, and welcome! ^^

I play primarily as BM - here's a link to my main's Armory.

As far as rotations go, I usually start with Hunter's Mark (macroed to also send my pet in), then hit Kill Command, Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot x2 and then a Cobra Shot to get the Focus for another Kill Command. From then on I'll make sure that I'll always have enough for a Kill Command when it's off cooldown, get rid of extra Focus with Arcane Shot and get some more with Cobra Shot. Basically you want to be casting SOMETHING at all times. It's a delicate balance and practice makes you perfect. :)

I'd also like to add in a word or two about our three main cooldowns: Bestial Wrath, Rapid Fire and Fervor.
- Use Bestial Wrath when you're as close to full Focus as possible, and when Kill Command is off cooldown. (I have Kill Command macroed into my Bestial Wrath so there's absolutely no delay.)
- Use Rapid Fire when you're completely out of Focus. Rapid Fire is the most powerful when you're firing a lot of Cobra Shots. Just make sure you don't hit maximum Focus! Also you generally don't want to have both Rapid Fire and Bestial Wrath up at the same time.
- I usually use Fervor to instantly top up my Focus for a Bestial Wrath in the middle of a fight.


Looking at your gear, the main thing I'm worried about is your second trinket: Szhnottz's Medallion of Command, as it's purely a Melee trinket, and thus useless for a Hunter. To name a couple excellent trinkets to replace it with...
- Tia's Grace, dropped by Siamat in the Lost City of the Tol'Vir. This is the absolute best option before Heroics
- Key to the Endless Chamber, dropped by Corborus in the Stonecore
- Grace of the Herald, dropped by Corla, Herald of Twilight in Blackrock Caverns

You also want to re-enchant your staff - Mighty Agility is the best of them all.

As far as Reforging goes, there's two things to look for:
- If you're not hit-capped, reforge Mastery and Haste to hit
- If you are hit-capped, reforge Mastery and Haste to crit

And when you're gemming...
- Delicate Inferno Ruby in Red slots (or if the color bonus isn't worth it)
- Deadly Ember Topaz in Yellow slots
- Glinting Demon's Eye in Blue slots
- Agile Shadowspirit Diamond in Meta slots


Hmm, that's all I can think of at the moment... But feel free to throw questions at us, I'm sure there's always someone happy to help. :)

(Also if you see me giving false advice, do point it out! This is just how I do it, could be I've been doing it wrong all along.)

[Sookie]

Elitist jerks is the site with all of the latest research about all classes & specs, so for the 'bible' of BM information you can check the latest thread here in their hunter forums: http://elitistjerks.com/f74/

However, to just learn the basics I would suggest heading over to Warcraft Hunters Union, an amazing hunter website with up-to-date guides, information, & blogs about just about everything. The whole site is worth checking out but here is a link to the Guides index (from here you can view everything from spec to rotation to gear & pet spec information!): http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/cat ... er-guides/

Some pages I would look at if I were you to get started:
Spec: http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... l-85-spec/
Pet Spec: http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... -level-85/
Glyphs: http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... er-glyphs/
Rotation: http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... -rotation/
Reforging (&Stat Priority): http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... -level-85/
Enchants: http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... -level-85/
Gems: http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... nter-gems/

Edit: And please uninstall Spellflash! D: You're ruining all the fun... =P

[Vixenon]

First, I'm partial to this spec, and it's improved my dps from around 8k to 12k+ (one modification: only one point in Spirit Bond, the other in Rapid Killing) (also, I'm not geared up, so I expect my DPS to improve more in the coming weeks)
http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... l-85-spec/

With these Glyphs (as of 4.1 the Glyph of Mend Pet can be replaced with whatever you wish. I chose The Glyph of Scare Beast and Revive Pet as my "whatever" glyphs)
http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... er-glyphs/

And these gems:
http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... nter-gems/

I haven't had a chance to enchant everything, but here's a guideline:
http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... -level-85/

And this for my pet's spec (use ferocity unless solo-ing. The Glyph of Misdirection will take care of the rest)
http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/201 ... -level-85/

Two addons that have been invaluable to me (and for some reason haven't seen mentioned before, ever) are HuntBars FE and HunterHelper.

But as for a rotation, I put up hunters mark, get in a Serpent Sting, then always, ALWAYS use Bestial Wrath, followed immediately by Kill Command. Kill Command is your bread and butter as a BM hunter, so don't waste it!
From that point, spam Arcane Shot until Kill Command's CD has worn off, but Bestial Wrath is still up. Click KC. By this point, you're probably mostly out of focus. I prefer Cobra Shot to restore my Focus, since you get a haste bonus if Serpent Sting is up (which it is, from the beginning of the fight), and by this point you usually have Focus Fire up too. Cobra Shot should by just as fast as Steady Shot by this point. Rapid Fire is a good thing to use, but only on a boss OR you know you won't be fighting a boss within the next 5 minutes.

I prefer to pop my Fevor mid-fight, when Bestial Wrath's CD is up, but my Focus is low, OR immediately after I've used Bestial Wrath, and my focus is verrry low.

And as always, finish the mob off with a couple of Kill Shots.

As a BM hunter, I really like my Spirit Beasts, since they can heal themselves no problem. I think in the past month I've had to click Mend Pet maybe... twice? But you go with what you are most comfortable with.

[SylviaDragon]

well i have been a hunter for about 2 and a half years, and BM since cata so i have a few tricks. But i am only lvl 70 (no xpack for me =/) so im sure what i use may not be as helpful for you at 85 as it is for me at lvl 70. But still here is a few tips:

Make a macro attached to your main shot (i use arcane shot) and simply add /pettattack target to the end of it. As BM your pet is extremely important. This gives you easy control of your pet so it won’t run off/ attack something pointless. Also good in pvp when you need to switch between targets and solves the pesky problem of your pet running off and attacking another pet and not a player.

i use a macro for a self beastcleave for boss fights that will pop BW, rapid fire, trinkets, intimidation and heroism all at the same time. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/a ... gon/simple (my battlenet profile incase you would like to look at glyphs, spec, pets, ect ect. something may help) I highly recommend a glyph of mending, i can’t tell you how important it is for soloing. (turtle/beetle are great for soloing by the way, because of the 50% damage reduction spell)

As for pets, you may want to look in to a Chimera and Core Hound. Core Hound makes you just that much more valuable as a raider and i am constantly being asked to bring my hound along for the heroism. As for the chimera, it gives you an aoe that is very cheap and has no cd so they are great dps for large groups of trash. So if I don’t have to cover any buff (like stam or kings) then i usually bring this guy. i usually just have my pet set of focus so I can see when my chimera has finished his aoe so I can refresh it. my aoe rotation goes something like:
trap launch: (aoe trap of choice) multi shot, multi shot, steady shot, steady shot, refresh chimera aoe, multishot..... (replace steady with cobra if you wish)
if you’re not dealing with large groups of trash I usually just got with a cat for the exstra agil.

lastly, visit the petopia macros page and see if you find anything you like ^.^ http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic ... os#p243601

hope i said something helpful and didn’t just jabber

[Lisaara]

Well I was gonna recommend WarcraftHuntersUnion.com but seems I was beaten twice.

I also wrote an article in Mania's blog(Mania's Arcania) to explain the BM a bit better in raiding terms.

http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic ... 11&t=10791

[Bubu]

Forum members already gave you a lots of links and ideas.
But!
Look at your hit rating...
With your current 1.91% you will miss A LOT.
And I mean it - A LOT.
Our hit cap is 8% and you should worry 'bout it first. So reforge your gear mastery-crit-haste ---> hit or get new gear with hit on it.
Sometimes you may even need to gem on hit. Or get trinks with lots of hit on it, will help a lot.


Btw, best hunter site ever? thanks for Grandpa Frost :O)