When Casual Hunters Decide to Raid
Recently I’ve noticed more hunters like myself have decided that it’s time to see other aspects of the game. Some go the PvP route with Arena’s or BG’s, but most of us tend to stick PVE and begin raiding.
This would be great if it wasn’t for the sheer numbers of hunters not prepared to raid. As some of you might know, and others not so much, there’s a plethora of information out there. Yet, every day we see more and more hunters in-game or posting in the “Official” Forums that just don’t seem to get it.
Not to sound like an elitist or anything, but it just has become extremely difficult to ignore any more. So here’s what I’m going to try and do.
Very quickly post some quick things to remember and do when starting to raid.
1. Learn What/How/Why the items, stats, etc… that is important to hunters.
Here’s the things you need to know.
Focus on your Hit Rating and Agility. Don’t waste your time with all those AP/Crit gems or enchants. This isn’t PVP it’s raiding. So make sure you prepare for it.
How? Well work towards getting your Hit capped. (Not hard to do)
Hit Rating cap is 142 (95 if you spec into Surefooted). If your at about 130 that’s good enough because you can use Spicy Talbuk to get you to cap.
Agility is extremely important, especially early on. Why? Well, we’ve explain before agility is king. Yes, AP comes into play later on (T5-to-T6 content) but we aren’t ready for that yet.
So.. where should we be at the beginning??
Hit Rating should be at 142.
Agility around 600-650.
If your not there by the time your group decides to be in Gruuls, you’ll probably be wondering why you can’t seem to RAWR!! to the top of the damage meters and finding it hard to get drops or raid spots.
2. Learn Your Shot Rotation and What Shots to Use!!
For most hunters this should be simple. Use the 3:2 shot rotation. Yes, I know, Arcane Shot is instant, and you get AWESOME!! crits from Mult-shot. But believe me, these will be the end of you if not used right. For now, stick to the 3:2 rotation (Auto > Steady Shot > Auto Shot > Steady Shot > Steady Shot).
3. Learn How to Set Up Macros
In a raid you’ll be required to shell out some horrendous damage. But also you need to help sometimes to get bosses or trash off those weak little casters and back onto the tank or make a pull go straight to the tank.
In this case a simple MD Macro works great!! But this isn’t the only macro, there’s many others that help your raid. None more important that the Shot Rotation Macro (aka 3:2 Macro). Create it, bind it to your scroll wheel, and pew-pew down the mobs.
4. Know How to Play Thy Pet
This should be a simple one and not need to be said. But here’s the keys.
1. Put pet on passive.
2. Turn off Growl.
3. Call pet back to prevent dps loss from having to rez pet mid-battle.
That’s about it. Follow those 3 simple things and it’ll help your damage and DPS.
Now, the other thing is to learn how to spec your pet. Make sure to spec your pet for the proper resistances of each raid.
Yes, it means spending more gold. But the more your pet can resist, the longer it lives and the more damage your pet will do.
5. Be Prepared!!
Finally, and most importantly. For every raid be prepared don’t waste your raids time by not being ready and wait for you to go round up everything.
And what do you need to bring? At the minimum, bring the following:
1. A full Quiver of a Thousand Feather with the Highest Level of Arrows available to you. (yes, pay the price and get the quiver and the most expensive arrows.)
2. Have armor fully repaired. (If you show up with your armor dinged and battered who can take you seriously.
3. Bring lots of Fel Mana Pots or at the least Super Mana Pots and Super Health Potions.
4. Bring at the least 1 fully charged Superior Mana Oil
5. Bring at least 5 Major Mageblood Elixirs. (Yes, they fail during death and but if you live 5 = 5hrs or 5 deaths. Both should be enough to call it a night.)
6. Bring 2-3 stacks of Pet Food.
7. Bring 1-2 stacks of Pet Buff Food. (Kibbler’s Bits or Sporeling Snacks, I like to bring at least 1 stack of each to be swapped out depending on the pull.)
8. Bring 3-4 stacks of Buff Food (Spicy Talbuk if not at the Hit Cap, Mudfish or Warpburgers for Agility).
9. Don’t rely on your Mage for a table all the time. This is ridiculous. At this time with dailies and the Naruu Biscuits you should have enough of your own food without relying on the mage.
If you follow these simple things, your raid should be more successful and you can help your group down more bosses. And as we all know, more downed bosses means mor phat lootz!!!
While hit is a very good stat and itemized very cheaply, it by no means should be the focus on gear to ignore others. In fact simple math will display that trading 1% crit for 1% hit will result in more damage simply due to the hunter crit damage bonus (30% if specced properly and 33% if you are using the right meta gem in a helm). Hunter mechanics and damage are affected by AP/Agi/Crit/Hit/ArP, even possibly Int if you’re specced that way as well. The key to doing the best possible damage is never gearing for just one thing, it is finding the best combination of gear that you have. Even the hardcore raiders know that PvP gems such as the s3/4 arena helms are stronger items than the t6 helm if you don’t have the 4 piece bonus.
Xyriin -
You did read the article right?? And realize it’s targeted at a casual player beginning to raid?? Not a PVP player, and not a true raider.
Hit is the main stat to concentrate on in the beginning. Why? Without hitting it doesn’t matter the RAP or Crit %. A miss is 0dps. So.. first get your hit up to a reasonable amount (see article) then if one is trying to give priority. one should stack +agi > +ap/+crit.
Why??? Because +agi scales and gives in return +armor, +ap and +crit. you can’t beat that.
As for the PVP gear. Yep it’s a good start. but most raiders won’t have the purple epics and also it’s not required. In general, one with good solid blues specced out with the correct enchants and gems can outperform pvp epics (at least first round). Not the higher T5-T6 transition gear but for the most part. Also, the blues are easier to get and faster to ramp up to PVE gear through heroics, faction rewards, badges, etc… than farming PVP for the most part.
But hey!! that’s my opinion.. Thanks for responding and it’s great to see you at the Lodge!!
- Brig
You do realise that 600-650 agi and 142 hit is extremely hard to reach for a new raider? I myself don’t even have 600 agi but I’m geared for T6 and doing it well xD I would say the minimum to start raiding, aka Karazhan would be 1400AP, 20% crit, 70+ hit and 5k mana =)
Sam -
I’ve never said that getting to 600-650agi and close to the 142 hit cap as easy. Yes, it will be difficult but it isn’t impossible. We have a couple of different guides where at the lodge by Elysianna, Zeisha, and Sogrin that all show how to get properly geared before stepping in to the raids.
The main problem I see, is everyone is attracted to the new “shiny” thing without giving a thought to how it affects their stats. So they go straight to the PvP epics and focus on AP, Crit, and low hit. Then complain with they’re told they need to bring up their damage and dps in a raid.
Since your not alone on these thoughts, stay tuned to the follow-up article on becomming Raiding Hunter.
- Brig