Ela's Guide to BC Hunter Gear and DPS v2.1 (STEP 1; STAT VALUATION)

(This guid was created by Elakuan, lvl 70 troll hunter, of the server Vashj. All credit goes to him for the creation of this wonderful guide. Date: 05/07/2007)

PREFACE:

After almost 2 months of trials and refinements, I consider this version of “Ela’s Guide to Hunter Gear and DPS” a finished product. Many posters have expressed using my previous versions with great success and it is my hope that this, therefore, gets a Sticky. If it does, I’ll remove this preface so we can get right to the good stuff. Naturally I plan to correct any changes that may happen to 2.1 (this guide currently incorporates 2.1 as it stands) and beyond.

Many thanks to the hunter community for your support, and thanks to blizzard for creating a class we all love.

Ela’s Guide to BC Hunter Gear and DPS v2.1

Welcome.

With the introduction of the Burning Crusade, hunter mechanics and itemization received a major overhaul, which in some ways is still in progress. This guide encompasses not only the initial BC changes, but mechanics up to 2.1 as well.

The purpose of this guide is to help hunters evaluate the dps value of their gear. While it would be nice to simply assign a mathematical number to each stat and weigh it accordingly, this approach does not take into account various specs and the delicate evolving balance between ap and crit which is fundamental to the discussion.

The better solution is to help you build your own numbers from where you stand now. We’ll take a snapshot and give you an idea of the relative value of your stats as they relate to your dps. As you make major gear/spec changes, it is suggested you repeat the process so as your numbers change you have an accurate picture of their relative worth.

STEP 1: STAT VALUATION

This guide focuses primarily on DPS (damage per second). While int, mana/5, stamina, hit rating, pet dps and a solid shot rotation are all critical to the success of a hunter, their value is not only a matter of opinion, but is relative to the fight in front of you. We will briefly discuss all of these things at the end of the guide.

For now, let’s focus on the hard math - stats that increase our damage as reported by our character sheet: Ranged Attack Power (ap), Critical Strike Rating (crit) and Agility (agi).

You may know the basics:
14 ap = 1 dps
22 crit = 1% total crit
40 agi adds 1% total crit
1 agi adds 1 ap Damage from a critical strike is double that of a normal strike.

Many, many things can affect these formulas. Let’s break down the stats one at a time.

Attack Power:

Whether you already have 800 AP or 2500 AP, the value of it has a linear effect on your paperdoll dps. 1/14 = .0714 (this number doesn’t divide cleanly, and if you put these figures into a spreadsheet, feel free to calculate all of these numbers to their full values).

By the time your reach level 70 (which is the basis of this guide) you should have access to a quiver granting you 15% haste. Equipping one means you get more shots, and therefore more value from your AP (that’s where the “per second” part of dps comes in). 1.15/14 = .08214

Some talents also affect the value of AP. Master Marksman, taken to its full value, adds 10% AP. As of 2.1, Survival Instincts will add 4% at full value. So, for marksmen, 1.1*1.15/14 = .09036. For Survivalists, 1.04*1.15/14 = .08543

Whatever that number is, jot it down as AP VALUE (PAPERDOLL). We have one slight adjustment to make this a usable number to analyze our gear. AP affects damage done by critical strikes as well, so we need to properly account for that. The number is small, but as your crit goes up it becomes increasingly important for valuation.

AP VALUE (PAPERDOLL) * Crit Bonus * Crit %

Crit bonus relates to Mortal Shots, or anything else that may affect the damage bonus of your crits. If you have 5 points in Mortal Shots, this will be 1.3. Crit % you can read right off your paperdoll (be sure to divide by 100).

So, for example, for someone with mortal shots and 20% crit:

.08214 * 1.3 * .20 = .02135

This is the ADDITIONAL value your ap gets from crit. Not much, but it can add up.

To then get your final AP VALUE (which we'll use to analyze your gear), add those two numbers together. In this example:

.08214 + .02135 = .10349

Jot that number down as AP VALUE. This coefficient cleanly expresses the value of a single point of attack power on your paperdoll dps.

Critical Strike Rating:

While the ultimate “relative” value of crit and ap is hotly contested, and will be for some time, it is easy to see how much crit adds to your dps as it stands now.

If an autoshot does 500 damage normally, a crit will hit for 1000 damage. If you have the mortal shots talent at full value, you will get a 30% bump to your crit damage bonus, so 1150.

To relate this to our paperdoll dps (so we’re comparing apples to apples) simply go into your character sheet, mouse over “damage” in your ranged stats, and jot down the DPS number…likely between 200 and 350. Let’s use 300 for an easy example. Were you to have 100% crit, that 300 would actually be worth 300*2.3 = 690 dps. Since that isn’t possible, we’ll come up with an average value.

Most find it easier to think of crits in terms of their ADDITIONAL value. So, in our 1300 crit, 500 was “expected” and the 1.3*500 = 650 was the added value from the crit. (EDIT: Had the example math wrong in original post, doesn't affect math below, so now worries!)

At 1% crit, our 300 dps is therefore worth an additional 300*1.3/100 = 3.9 dps. 22 crit rating = 1% crit, so the value of a single crit rating in this example would be 3.9/22 = .1773

Whatever that figure is for you, jot it down as CRIT VALUE, the value of a single point of crit rating in your gear.

Agility:

From these two numbers we can easily determine the value of a point of agility as it relates to our dps. If 40 agi = 1% crit = 22 crit rating, then 22/40 = .55 crit rating per 1 agility. Also, 1 agility adds 1 ap. So the value of Agi is easy to determine:

AP VALUE + .55 CRIT VALUE = AGI VALUE.

Again, jot this down. And, if you happen to be a survivalist, inflate it accordingly by adding 15%.

Intellect:

Should you be a marksman, you will also get a small bump from Int. At full value, multiply AP VALUE by .45, and that will tell you the dps value of a single point of INT. With quiver and master marksman, .45*1.1*1.15/14 = .04066

Sockets:

With these numbers in hand, you can easily evaluate the value of sockets in your gear. In terms of gems, Red gives AP and AGI, Yellow gives CRIT and HIT and Blue yields STAMINA (which for the dps valuation means we use purple or green hybrids) The standard set of gems looks like this:

Red Socket:
Delicate Blood Garnet – 6 agi
Delicate Living Ruby – 8 agi
Bright Blood Garnet – 12 ap
Bright Living Ruby – 16 ap

Yellow Socket:
Smooth Golden Dranite – 6 crit rating
Smooth Dawnstone – 8 crit rating

Blue Socket:
Shifting Shadow Dranite – 3 agi,
4 stam Shifting Nightseye – 4 agi,
6 stam Jagged Deep Peridot – 3 crit,
4 stam Jagged Talasite – 4 crit, 6 stam

Note that there are orange gems that mix Agility and Hit Rating, but in this analysis they rate lower than the red and yellow socket choices listed here. If you find yourself lacking in hit rating (see below) realize these gems may be a solution.

It is also critically important to note that you do not NEED to obey the suggested gem colors. Many hunters stack agility or ap gems into their slots…including blue and yellow slots, violating the socket colors and therefore losing the socket bonus. If you are building an evaluation spreadsheet for your gear, it might pay to enter piece of socket gear twice: once while obeying the socket colors, one while not.

Metagems are a bit more difficult to analyze, since they typically come with effects. But since the big choices so far either yield 20 ap, 24 ap, or 12 crit, they are pretty easy to analyze from a numbers perpective. There are also 2 new metas coming out in 2.1. I will analyze these as more data is confirmed about procs and effects.

From here, take your coefficients, the gems available to you, and figure out the dps values of each raw socket. Jot them down.