Hunter Spec at 70

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Xandar

Member
I have been asked several times over the past week about my build and why I like it. Here it is

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=VZVVbRVkhestchhGzbo

I want to say something up front. I truly enjoy(ed) the BM hunter spec. I am a firm believer that BM is the best way you can go, especially if you like any type of PvP or do a lot of soloing. I also respect Adam's decision to go back to BM after trying MM, BM does rock. However, I have had a slightly different experience than he has had. I am able to sustain 530+ dps in fights regularly, not just against clothies, and including zero of my pets damage. It is rare where I am not at the very top of the damage charts (really hate those btw, but so many use them *shrug*).

So why this build? One word, traps. I was finding, as a BM hunter in some of the higher lvl 5-mans, my traps were breaking early and being resisted, or just running out of time and not getting retrapped in a timely manner. This happens very rarely with my current build. I am able to keep one mob under constant CC, while keeping the above dps. My experience is that CC is the biggest problem that 5-mans face, especially in instances such as shattered halls and similar. The advanced trapping talents allow the hunter's ice block to become a reliable CC rather than just a hope it works one. In practice, it was so reliable during some recent runs, the group actually started nuking the sheep before my trap. Admittedly, this usually said something about the mage, but was interesting. The group considered the traps as a given. Ice blocks also work in some situations where sheep doesn't of course. CC has become important enough at my current play level that I won't play without it for now. That may change as I get into serious raid instances.

Even with the above said, I cannot stress enough to stay BM as long as possible. My RAP is about 2k right now self buffed as an MM. Until you can get to this point its not really worth it, especially if your traps seem to be working for your groups.

PS: the common thought is that you are totally gimped for solo work as an MM. This is not entirely true. I have little problems killing most of what I did earlier, I just have to pay more attention. I can't let my pet tank an elite while I get a drink of water for example, but I can take out that elite just the same. Don't get me wrong, its NOT quite as good, just not a gimped as some think.
 
Actually, I agree with most everything anyone has said about BM being better with regards to pure damage to MM (counting both pet and hunter of course, which most groups won't officially do). The item a partial survival build brings to the table is reliable, long term crowd control. Currently, with my 3 pieces of Beast Lord (only two is required but...), trap cool down is 26 sec. Since, with the SV talents, traps last 26 sec, with good timing I have been able to reliably keep 1 mob locked down instantly, following up a very few seconds later with a second locked down. This second mob remains locked the entire fight (until his turn comes of course). For the first mob, 26 seconds out of action is huge on a 6 - pull.

Without the resistance talents, I have seen traps break early or be flat resisted in lvl 70 instances quite often. Shattered halls was the place where I first saw this happen frequently. Since I have the talents I do, this simply does not happen. If a mob breaks, it is because someone broke it (shame on that AOE!)

For the first time I can remember, I am starting to get tells out of the blue asking if I can join up with a group with my hunter. Not enough yet, but it actually happens now. This is always from someone I have recently played with and liked the extra CC. This never happened, no matter how well I played, when I focused mostly on DPS. There are just too many flat out DPS hunters.

I humbly admit my pet/hunter combination will lose on any damage meter compared to a similar level geared BM hunter, but the difference won't be as much as you might think. And my opinion remains that CC beats pure DPS in the long run for group survivability. My fastest run through Shattered halls came on this past Thursday (I was requested to come from a raiding guild who I have nothing to do with, other than run a PUG with one of the leaders last week - he wanted me to come over several of his guild hunters - who run Kara btw) with me and a mage being the only CC available. And, as I listed in my other post, this group too decided that my traps and the way I was laying them were better than the mage's sheep, so the trap was the last one killed in the rotation. I had second highest damage overall too, only behind the mage. Of course, I was beating the mage until we did the "fire lane", where I saw the best strategy to date - run through to the end then AOE EVERYTHING at once. Awsome, but AOE on that many mobs put me in a hole too deep to climb out of damage wise.
 
Have you experienced the pet/trap bug yet.. On occasion, I'll pull my target to a trap, then switch target to the main tank target, start firing and send my pet in.. My pet seems to (on occasion) like too make a quick pit stop at the trap target, bite him/release him, then head on to the original target..
 
Yup, though trapping has nothing to do with either BM or MM but your point is still very valid. On mobs that can be trapped, we need to be doing it and often. Often what I see is the hunter not laying it quick enough to take advantage of a second trap when they need it. The BL 2 piece set bonus is nice but serious trappers need a number of points in survival to make it really work. With my pvp and pve balance, BM has worked great for me.
 
Agreed Adam. I choose the MM to compliment the SV part as opposed to the BM/SV spec. My opinion is that optimize dps is BM with MM, not possible with the SV talents. BN/SV misses too many talents to be as good as either BM/MM or MM/SV.

It also is my opinion, seen through practice, that while hunters without the talents can certainly trap, it is no sure thing. That 6 additional seconds is nice also.
 
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Im still running Surv. With scatter shot, wyvern sting, clever/entrapment traps I can hold several mobs from 4-40 seconds. And with Deterrence/counter attack I can protect the clothies until the tank can get to them. Yes my damage suffers, but keeping the group alive is much appreciated.
 
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