Source: Hunter Gear

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Official "Good/Easy to Get BC Item" list/guide

Ela's Guide to BC Hunter Gear and DPS v2.1 (STEP 3:BEYOND THE NUMBERS)

STEP 3: BEYOND THE NUMBERS
Date: 05/07/2007

Specs:

As many have discussed on these boards, each of our three trees has arguable viability in instances, pvp, and raid environments. A brief review of the perks of each before we talk gear:

BEASTMASTER:
How they do dps: Increased bow speed. More shots = more damage, more procs for other talents/trinkets How they add to your raid: Ferocious inspiration. 3% damage increase for party. How they succeed in pvp: The Beast Within, which has a host of immunities and damage potential Notes: What it lacks in splashy numbers (like ap and crit bonuses) it makes up for with a staggering 20% speed boost.

MARKSMAN:
How they do dps: straight up bonus to damage dealt and buff to AP. Lower rate of procs for talents/trinkets, but enough high damage to make up for it depending on gear. How they add to your raid: Trueshot aura. 125 ap to your party How they succeed in pvp: Scattershot (which you can't have in other trees w/o giving up valuable 41-point talents) and silencing shot. Notes: Marksman has become the most popular tree, but some question its scalability for end-game gear compared to other trees. But with the amount of ap itemized in our gear, Marksmen aren’t going away anytime soon.

SURVIVAL:
How they do dps: Bonus to agility and a 3% direct boost to crit, which means more procs on trinkets/talents. Readiness to get double rapid fires in boss fights. How they add to your raid: Expose Weakness. 3 points = 100% proc in 2.1. That's a buff to any melee in the raid on every crit. How they succeed in pvp: Great traps, readiness (which can finish your trap cooldown instantly) and wyvern sting. Notes: As agility becomes more relevant in your gearset, survival becomes more and more viable.

Ultimately, the inherent mana efficiency (thrill of the hunt) and hit rating (surefooted) in survival have made some suggest this tree’s greatness is in the fact that the “pure dps set” discussed in this guide can be used with less penalty.

For others, remarkable damage is equally possible, but a bit more planning for hit rating and mana (particularly for the quick shot beastmasters) is absolutely necessary.

There is little question that all three specs are viable, and in a raid scenario the three can synergize. A group with all 3 types of hunters would be an amazing dps experiment.

Shot Rotation:

Though some hunters prefer to time their shots manually, and argue great success in doing so, many hunters want to minimize their error rate and have started using shot rotation macros. We won’t cover it in this guide, but realize that different shots have different damage calculations.

While the paperdoll is a good model for maximizing damage on ANY type of shot, it should be noted that for those truly committed to dps may want to explore beyond this guide for tools modeling full shot rotations.

Pets:

Also not covered in this guide is a full discussion of pets, which is a more than worthy topic to cover in detail.

For our stat-valuation purposes, it is important to note that AP scales into your pet’s attack power, raising the relative value of your AP.

And of course, those with the Go for the Throat talent will see remarkable returns from their crits adding into your pet’s capability for special attacks. Many recommend hunters have in their endgame stable a good “focus dump” pet – one who has the ability to burn through special attacks without cumbersome cooldowns. Ravagers, Boars and Windserpents currently seem to be the choice pets for focus dump, but the discussion is still evolving.

Either way, as of 2.1, pets have remarkable survivability in raiding scenarios, and the capacity to be a big part of your dps.

Closing Thoughts:

Itemization is still evolving, but there is no question that a one-size-fits-all approach to hunter gear isn’t optimal. The best tool you can have to improve your own dps is curiosity. Browse the armory. Inspect hunters around you. Try all the specs, and learn what makes them work.

Ultimately, maximizing your uberness requires you to find the spec to match your playstyle, mastering the skills that come with that tree (and with the class in general) and gearing yourself appropriately.

There are a lot of challenges facing hunters in Outland. But if you’re willing to put in the work…the gear is there to make yourself viable in any raid.

Good Luck, Hunters.

-Elakuan, Vashj

Ela's Guide to BC Hunter Gear and DPS v2.1(STEP 2: GEAR VALUATION)

STEP 2: GEAR VALUATION
Date: 05/07/2007

With these numbers, you are now armed to evaluate your gear. You could certainly do this with a pocket calculator, but knowing that your numbers will change as your gear evolves (and your spec changes) you may simply want to build yourself a spreadsheet.

Make columns for each stat, including # of sockets. At the top, list the values of each stat and socket. In each row, list a piece of gear and its attributes. Then simply multiply the # of stat by the value of the stat to get a total dps value for a piece of gear.

Note that you may find switching to a higher-valued gearset may actually DECREASE your paperdoll dps. Don’t worry, many find after this analysis that they have undervalued crit in their gear. If the numbers change drastically you may want to recalculate your numbers.

Once the dps analysis is done, you need to take a look beyond the dps numbers. Depending on your spec, your play style, and the encounter before you, the gear you have on may change radically. Few high-level hunters would wear the same gear to an arena match (where they are taking a lot of damage) and a 25-man raid (where in general they shouldn’t be taking much). Many build different sets. You now know how to build a max-dps set. From there, determine your mana, health, and hit needs to optimize your other gear.

It should be pointed out that often times, the highest pure-dps gear come from leather items. This is because gear itemized for rogues does not have int or mana/5, and therefore has more stats to spend on hit, crit, ap, agi, and stamina. Be on the lookout for good leather items to round out your choices…and remember that gem bonuses are often easily discarded in rogue gear.

Certain encounters require a great deal of stamina. Facing doomwalker with less than 8500 is a big mistake, but there are many opportunities to stop and take a drink. A fight like Prince is likely to burn through your mana in a hurry, so you may want to make sure you have a good mana pool…or be prepared to burn a lot of mana pots to compensate.

Hit rating deserves its own discussion. Blizzard has told us that 15.8 hit rating equates to a 1% chance to hit. Since we have a base miss rate of 5% for level 70 mobs, we need 5*15.8 = 79 hit rating for anything up to Level 70. Naturally some bosses go beyond 70, so to avoid misses you may need to adjust your gear accordingly. The experts tell us 8.6% added to our hit does the trick, or 136 Hit Rating. Jot this down, it’s an important number. Naturally if you’re a survival hunter, you get a 3% inherent chance to hit with Surefooted. So, your needs for L70 mobs are 2*15.8 = 32, and 5.6*15.8 = 89 hit rating.

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.

Source

Official "Good/Easy to Get BC Item" list/guide

Ela's Guide to BC Hunter Gear and DPS v2.1 (STEP 3:BEYOND THE NUMBERS)

Ela's Guide to BC Hunter Gear and DPS v2.1(STEP 2: GEAR VALUATION)

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

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