A Fistfull of Arrows: Hunter course 101 (Resist gear, Keep your mana alive, Hit gear, Aspects)

(This guide was created by Cutrean, level 70 Tauren hunter, of the Baelgun server.
Date: 09/25/2007)

Junior Level

10. Resist gear
11. Keeping your mana alive
12. Hit gear
13. Aspects

10. Get resist gear and know when to use it, and keep it repaired. Don't wait until you are neck deep in a new zone before looking to get the gear, get it now if you can / have the space. This also falls under the "know the encounter" topic..

This is still important as many bosses in Heroic level zones are going to require at least a passing nod in resist gear. Get with your guildies and get them mats for resist gear. Most of us can make some good stuff; this also helps everyone out as the gear will probably give a boost in skill points as well.


11. Now that we have "Aspect of the Viper" our need to FD+drink is practically obsolete. There is little reason to do this anymore as it's a huge interruption in DPS when DPS is a major factor in some encounters, like Gruul. Especially with the upcoming changes to AotV to make it more viable. Learn to toggle between AotH and AotV for the longer boss fights. Steady shot takes virtually no mana, has no cool down and can be pretty much spammed with AotV on while regaining mana.

For example, during Gruul, I start off with AotH on, plink away at max DPS until about 50% mana, then I pop a Fel Mana Potion (a hunters best friend) and keep up the max DPS until about 30%, then I switch over to Viper and regen mana with an “auto – auto – steady” stream of DPS until my potion cool down is up then pop the potion and switch back to Hawk. During your “down-time” you do have several ways to keep up the DPS you loose from your rotations, trinkets, rapid-fire, etc.

Only in extreme emergencies should you FD+Drink. Or if you have a crapload of time like in Netherspite's banish phase..


12. Get +hit gear. For PvP encounters, you want 5% of hit gear and/or abilities. For mobs that are 3 + levels higher in instances, the generally agreed-upon number is 9% to “never-miss”. I can’t stress how important and easy this is to get. It makes me want to strangle a kitten whenever I see a hunter with 2% to hit and wondering why his DPS suffers… Oh ya….psst….the Surefooted talent gives you a passive 3% to hit all the time. Practically half-way there….


13. Learn when to use your Aspects. You should be completely familar with them just from leveling up, but not everyone goes beyond Hawk. Our standards are Hawk for RAP, Viper for Mana, and Cheetah/Pack for speed, not going to talk about them. Just make sure you turn off Pack before a fight...heh.

Aspect of the Beast....well...if you've ever played WSG and got stuck holding the flag...you've probably found the best use for it right there.

Aspect of the Monkey is very, very nice. AotM + Deterence is even better. If you have Deterence, do yourself a favor, make a macro that makes AotM active when you trigger Deterence. Trust me, when your in the position to pop Deterence, you will notice the difference.

Aspect of the Wild is 60 NR to everyone in your party, which translates to roughly 15% damage reduction all around. The bad thing is that it doesn't stack wtih the shaman ability, and if you have a shaman in your group, use his buff, not yours. Anyone want to bet that there’s going to be nature damage in the next outdoor Troll zone? I know of a few spots where this aspect comes into play, Blood Furnace, the Underbog, even more so on Heroic, Gruul's lair when we "tank" Kiggler.