Hunter 6.0 Transition Guide.

[Niix 169]

If you're interested in a more in depth guide please check out the most recent post I've made HERE where I go over each spec in depth including gemming, stat priority and rotation for 6.0.

 

 

Hello fellow hunters, welcome to a quick guide on the changes that we will be seeing in the coming weeks with the release of the pre-patch for WoD, patch 6.0. 

 

The information I will be providing below will be sectioned off into the three specs will a small comment below everything with my personal opinion of the spec above. Please remember that these things are still subject to change and any comments are just my personal opinion so take them how you wish. With that being said we will begin with survival.

 

Survival

 

• Kill Shot is no longer available to survival hunters. Blizzard decided to remove this in an attempt to make the spec centered around sustained DPS, no major game play changes here, you just won't have to cast it anymore.
• Serpent Sting is no longer a cast-able spell and the DoT itself has been baked into Arcane Shot. None of you have an excuse for a low up-time on this DoT unless you're dead now.
• Cobra Shot no longer extends the duration of Serpent Sting. 
• This is now the only spec with Serpent Sting, it has been removed from MM and BM and we don't even have to think about it, it's free damage.
• Explosive Shot now costs 15 Focus (down from 25 Focus).
• Survivalist is a new passive ability learned by Survival Hunters at level 10. Survivalist increases Multistrike damage by 20%, and causes the Hunter to gain 15% health over 10 seconds after killing a target.
• Survival is the only spec in the game without an inherent cooldown, if you want to use one, you'll need to pick one from your talents.

I'm very unhappy with the changes to this spec. Survival was my favorite spec in the entire game and now that they've gutted it, removed cooldowns and not properly compensated with damage buffs across the board, the spec is currently the worst spec in the game. It is lower than the current Marks numbers and I'm very sad to see it go. Barring some very huge changes, I will not be playing this spec come WoD.

 

 

Beast Mastery

 

This section has no major gameplay changes, other than the loss of Serpent Sting, and cooldowns other than Bestial Wrath, the playstyle is entirely unchanged. Most of what I will be covering below is the changes to pet buffs, feel free to skip over this section if you already know what buffs pets have.

 

• Several raid buffs provided by Hunter Pets have been changed into auras that are automatically applied to the Hunter's party or raid.
• Abilities unique to each hunter pet family has been revised to provide a standard buff, debuff, or ability.

The buffs that each family provides are below, the 

• Combat Resurrection: Crane, Moth, Quilen
• Mortal Wounds: Carrion Bird, Devilsaur, Riverbeast, Scorpid
• Increased Spell Power: Serpent, Silithid, Water Strider
• Increased Strength/Agility/Intellect: Dog, Gorilla, Shale Spider, Worm
• Increased Critical Strike Chance: Devilsaur, Quilen, Raptor, Shale Spider, Water Strider, Wolf
• Temporary Haste: Core Hound, Nether Ray
• Increased Haste: Rylak, Hyena, Sporebat, Wasp
• Increased Mastery: Cat, Hydra, Spirit Beast, Tallstrider
• Increased Stamina: Bear, Goat, Rylak, Silithid
• Increased Multistrike: Basilisk, Chimaera, Core Hound, Dragonhawk, Fox, Rhino, Wind Serpent
• Increased Versatility: Bird of Prey, Boar, Porcupine, Ravager, Rhino, Worm
• An ability that increases dodge chance of the pet by 30% for 10 seconds: Bat, Monkey
• An ability that reduces damage taken by the pet by 50% for 12 seconds: Beetle, Crab, Quilen, Rhino, Shale Spider, Turtle
• An ability that Reduces movement speed of the target by 50%: Chimaera, Crocolisk, Silithid, Spider, Warp Stalker

The following pet families provide an additional ability.

• Chimaera - Froststorm Breath: Causes Froststorm damage to all targets in front of the Chimaera over 8 seconds.
• Core Hound - Molten Hide: Causes Fire damage to attackers.
• Devilsaur - Feast: The devilsaur feasts on a nearby Humanoid or Beast corpse within 5 yards, healing it for 20% of its maximum health and restoring 20 Focus over 5 seconds.
• Direhorn - Reflective Armor Plating: Deflects all spells cast in front of the Direhorn for 6 seconds.
• Rylak - Updraft: Slows the fall speed of both itself and the hunter for 30 seconds.
• Spirit Beast - Spirit Mend: Heals the target ally instantly, and additional healing over 10 seconds.
• Water Strider - Surface Trot: Allows the Hunter and the Water Strider to walk across water.
• Worm - Burrow Attack: Deals Nature damage to nearby enemies over 8 seconds.

Marksmanship

 

• Bombardment now reduces the cost of Multi-Shot by 25 Focus (up from a 20 Focus reduction).
• Mastery: Wild Quiver has been removed.
• Sniper Training is a new Mastery for Marksmanship Hunters, replacing Wild Quiver.
  • Sniper Training activates when the Hunter stands still for 3 seconds, giving them the Sniper Training effect for 6 seconds, increasing damage, shot range, and critical strike damage by 4% (increased by Mastery).
• Chimera Shot has been renamed Chimaera Shot. It is now a two-headed shot that hits two targets, costs 35 Focus (down from 45 Focus), and deals Frost or Nature damage, but no longer heals the Hunter.
• Careful Aim now also provides its effect against all targets when Rapid Fire is active, and increases critical strike chance by 60% (down from 75%).
• Rapid Fire is now the only cooldown for Marksman hunters, just like the other two specs any other cooldowns may be taken from talents.

Marksmanship has received some interesting changes. The main thing to note here is the change to our mastery. To play this spec 100% optimally you will have to do a lot of personal testing to see how little you can move in a certain fight. I feel that this will be a very underplayed spec because if you go for a high mastery build, grabbing as much mastery gear as you can, your damage will be wildly different across all the fights considering many of them have different movement requirements. Marks is currently in a good place but I personally wouldn't opt to go down the mastery route, you just never know what is going to be thrown your way during a fight and having every point of mastery entirely wasted while not under the effects of the buff is a huge reason to just not bother with it. 

 

For 6.0 I will personally be playing Beast Mastery because it feels like the only spec that we currently have that feels like it's finished, the other specs are missing too many things to make me interested in playing them. Go ahead and grab your TEDs now and get your exotic pets out because until some changes come, it seems BM is our only option unfortunately. 

 

Once 6.0 drops, this thread will be constantly updated as new things are found about the mythic fights, if you have anything to add please comment below and I will add to this list. 

 

-Niix

[Orthios 271]

I'd have to disagree with BM being the only finished spec, because MM feels pretty solid.  For those that are used to using Aimed Shot as their focus dump, nothing has really changed about how the spec plays.  What I don't like is that MM lost Steady Focus, Master Marksman procs (free/instant Aimed Shot), and Piercing Shots, along with loosing Stampede and Serpent Sting.  Unfortunately, this makes MM a very spammy spec, with aimed shot dealing a big portion of our overall damage. 

 

For those that are used to using Arcane Shot as a focus dump, MM no longer has Arcane Shot, so start getting used to using Aimed Shot.  

[Niix 169]

I'd have to disagree with BM being the only finished spec, because MM feels pretty solid.  For those that are used to using Aimed Shot as their focus dump, nothing has really changed about how the spec plays.  What I don't like is that MM lost Steady Focus, Master Marksman procs (free/instant Aimed Shot), and Piercing Shots, along with loosing Stampede and Serpent Sting.  Unfortunately, this makes MM a very spammy spec, with aimed shot dealing a big portion of our overall damage. 

 

For those that are used to using Arcane Shot as a focus dump, MM no longer has Arcane Shot, so start getting used to using Aimed Shot.  

 

Yeah, the spec itself is okay, it just feels super empty to me. Only having Aimed, Steady and Chimera makes it very very boring to play IMO.

[Orthios 271]

Yeah, the spec itself is okay, it just feels super empty to me. Only having Aimed, Steady and Chimera makes it very very boring to play IMO.

If you think about it, BM has just as much as MM does. BM has Arcane Shot, Kill Command and Cobra Shot, vs MM having Aimed Shot, Chimaera Shot, and Steady Shot. The difference is the cooldowns: BM has Bestial Wrath every 1 min and MM has Rapid Fire every 2 min. Everything else (that's actively used) is a talent for both specs.

[Niix 169]

If you think about it, BM has just as much as MM does. BM has Arcane Shot, Kill Command and Cobra Shot, vs MM having Aimed Shot, Chimaera Shot, and Steady Shot. The difference is the cooldowns: BM has Bestial Wrath every 1 min and MM has Rapid Fire every 2 min. Everything else (that's actively used) is a talent for both specs.

 

Yeah and that is expanded on by talents for both classes obviously. With MM though, there's no pet management because as far as I know, the highest DPS for that spec is Lone Wolf. So with BM you also get to worry about Focus Fire, Bestial Wrath and it really just feels like there is more to do with BM. I'm going to play it regardless of damage unless MM is close to 5% better. Then I'll probably swap to MM. I just don't like being penalized for movement on a class that is supposed to be able to move unhindered.

[f0nZi3 7]

Yeah and that is expanded on by talents for both classes obviously. With MM though, there's no pet management because as far as I know, the highest DPS for that spec is Lone Wolf. So with BM you also get to worry about Focus Fire, Bestial Wrath and it really just feels like there is more to do with BM. I'm going to play it regardless of damage unless MM is close to 5% better. Then I'll probably swap to MM. I just don't like being penalized for movement on a class that is supposed to be able to move unhindered.

 

Yeah, it is going to feel strange going from "don't move" then "oh, you can move now" and now back to "don't move". I've just gotten so used to holding my right mouse button down and strafing and jumping all over the place that it's REALLY going to take some time to get used to only moving when I absolutely have to. But, I am really looking forward to playing MM. Sad to see SV isn't really that strong (at this time) - but at least (for me) MM will feel like a brand new spec. :)

[Niix 169]

Yeah, it is going to feel strange going from "don't move" then "oh, you can move now" and now back to "don't move". I've just gotten so used to holding my right mouse button down and strafing and jumping all over the place that it's REALLY going to take some time to get used to only moving when I absolutely have to. But, I am really looking forward to playing MM. Sad to see SV isn't really that strong (at this time) - but at least (for me) MM will feel like a brand new spec.

 

My biggest complain is that MM is just boring as fuck honestly. Like I said I'll be playing it if it's marginally better than BM, which SimC says it is but I honestly don't trust those numbers. I'd rather test it myself, because I refuse to go for a mastery setup on MM because I fucking hate that mastery more than anything. RNG mechanics means that if you get targeted a lot your DPS will drop, I don't want to rely on the mechanics not targeting me to do consistent DPS. I'd rather be average all the time than randomly good or bad. 

[Ceraius 34]

How much of a difference is there between the three specs? I'd like to see some numbers if you guys have any. :)

[Niix 169]

How much of a difference is there between the three specs? I'd like to see some numbers if you guys have any.

 

This is just patchwerk DPS which most of WoD will NOT be, at 100% optimal playing. Take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Ceraius 34]

Wow, thats quite a difference even with the grains of salt. I'd assume movement would bring the three specs a little closer to eachother, but thats quite a gap to close.

[Niix 169]

Wow, thats quite a difference even with the grains of salt. I'd assume movement would bring the three specs a little closer to eachother, but thats quite a gap to close.

 

Yeah I'm a little bit nervous about the state of hunters but I have stuck with them through thick and thin and don't plan on main swapping ever.

[Ceraius 34]

Character loyalty for the win. For me its my "main alt" so I'd still like it to be in good shape. Gawd I hope if Surv starts out bad it would scale well with gear.

[Krazyito 521]

Niix that looks old where did you get it?  Here is yesterday's update for WoD normals: http://downloads.simulationcraft.org/T17N-Stat-Raid-10-9-14.html

 

And here is SoO heroic: http://downloads.simulationcraft.org/T16H-Stat-Raid-10-10-14.html

 

You can find the updated versions here: http://downloads.simulationcraft.org/

[Niix 169]

Niix that looks old where did you get it?  Here is yesterday's update for WoD normals: http://downloads.simulationcraft.org/T17N-Stat-Raid-10-9-14.html

 

And here is SoO heroic: http://downloads.simulationcraft.org/T16H-Stat-Raid-10-10-14.html

 

You can find the updated versions here: http://downloads.simulationcraft.org/

 

It's not old, it's Mythic.

[Niix 169]

Did some pretty heavy testing last night on MM, actually found the spec enjoyable. I'll be updating the hunter section with information about how each spec is performing on the different fights in relation to eachother.

[Lindsey5417 0]

for BM..whats going to be the best stats you need? IE mast,multistrick and so on?

[Dranlord 0]

This is just patchwerk DPS which most of WoD will NOT be, at 100% optimal playing. Take it with a grain of salt.

 

 

the problem with this Simulation craft that there are little to no patchwerk stile fights on WoD, making the new dont move, move, MM stiyle a little hard to keep it up, my gueses will be that MM and BM will be close to each other making MM up when you have that fights where you can stay put and shoot shoot

[Krazyito 521]

Sims are shit now anyway until the raid release in November. 

[Niix 169]

the problem with this Simulation craft that there are little to no patchwerk stile fights on WoD, making the new dont move, move, MM stiyle a little hard to keep it up, my gueses will be that MM and BM will be close to each other making MM up when you have that fights where you can stay put and shoot shoot

 

"This is just patchwerk DPS which most of WoD will NOT be, at 100% optimal playing. Take it with a grain of salt."

 

I mentioned that don't worry.

[Kadzeroth 0]

Playing SV on the beta from 90 to 100, I'm loving it TBH.  I'll have to see how it performs out of soloing, but SV + Lone Wolf = One happy hunter.

[Niix 169]

Playing SV on the beta from 90 to 100, I'm loving it TBH.  I'll have to see how it performs out of soloing, but SV + Lone Wolf = One happy hunter.

 

Awesome! SV is still fairly fun I just like seeing numbers honestly and knowing that I'm playing the worst of the three specs really just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

[Aliensanta 1]

Didn't your Simcraft for Mythic show SV hunter being slightly ahead of BM hunter?  Also mastery isn't going to make or break you.  Even if you consider mastery the best stat, the fight mechanics are being balanced on ranged having to stand still.  All casters at range are going to have limited mobility by default.  Calm down for a second and take a deep breath, nothing is final and if casters can work around being turrets so can Marks hunters.

[DirtyLittleGnome 0]

As a hunter main i am looking forward to the changes, but i am also sad about how much they have gutted all 3 specs. I enjoyed the gameplay in mop just fine, i dont really see the point of removing all the core spells that made the game have depth for the sake of saving a few buttons.

 

For example, whats the hurt in having sting, granted its cool now that i dont have to worry about having it up, or forget to refresh it etc, but dumbing it down like that doesnt make up for less gameplay though, even if it was 1 extra button every x seconds, it was still something.

 

I play BM have been BM all of mop, i had been survival all of cata, and the last time i tried MM was maybe early cata, and i was MM back in wrath...so yeah its been awhile. Back in cata i hated the MM playstyle, i also didnt like in MOP, having to stand in 1 place all the time, just to get shots off or buffs. And now they are making it even more focused on standing?

 

MM they say was great for PVP, i dont know because i dont pvp like ever, but i remember trying that in bgs a few times, and having to stand and fire and channel my shots, felt way to clunky and opened yourself to death by just about any other class, quick.

 

Now that pvp is on "even ground" with no resillience/pvp power crap, and equal ilvls i might pvp more i can just hop in and do it, and with Ashran also i can do "casual pvp" and not be punished for not having gear or skill, a more fun take on pvp becasue i hated being the undergeared guy with no skill before, at least now i can be somewhat on same level with others so it comes down to just getting better timing and learning tactics...rather than huge gear gap

 

Survival sounds really boring now, i'll probably stick with BM and i'll try MM again, and this is the best time to do that prior to WOD launch beause now there's no gem/chant/reforge worries to much, if i wanted to switch from BM to MM i'd have to re-do all my gear, reforge, etc to be optimal, at least now its way less burden to switch specs, and gear wont have such an impact spec dps as before if you werent gemmed/chanted/reforged correctly

 

servers are up in a few hours...we will see....

[Iridar 80]

I feel like I'll have higher DPS using survival just because I will do far less mistakes in my rotation. Even if MM is better single target DPS on paper, it's a huge pain in the ass to play without arcane shot. The aimed shot is just too darn expensive. Same goes for barrage. I'm considering using Glaive Toss instead.

 

Weird. Throughout the MoP I wanted to raid as MM, but couldn't - I needed the best performing spec. I hated the Glaive Toss that was best DPS talent. Now MM and Barrage seem to be best performing, yet I still can't play it. 

[Niix 169]

BM is top.