Wednesday 25 March 2009

Why I chose, what I chose

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For any budding hunters out there, here's my current build and my reasons for each point spent:
(Note: this obviously might change a little when 3.1 hits)

My Build

Beast Mastery:

Improved Aspect of the Hawk - This is pretty self-explanatory, it gives a solid and reliable DPS buff, and since it procs on 10% of all normal shots, and I fire god-knows-how-many arrows per fight, it's almost always up. Which gives me a permanent 15% speed increase, which then becomes a self-fulfiling prophecy.

Endurance Training - Not really essential for DPS, but the points have to be spent high up in this tree, and no other talent provides a more useful stat boost. Could be swapped for others if needed.

Focused Fire - Another bog-standard "does what it says on the tin" talent. A permanent 2% damage increase.

Aspect Mastery - Yet more Attack Power from Aspect of the Hawk, which should be your main aspect, and less of a DPS drop from Viper, which is also handy.

Unleashed Fury - It's all about the DPS baby. And this one gives 15% extra to your pet at all times.

Ferocity - More Crits = more DPS... Simples

Intimidation - Rarely useful, in my case, but required for the talents below it in the tree.

Bestial Discipline - More focus = more special attacks, and more special attacks = more DPS

Frenzy - The 'Aspect of the Hawk' for your pet... Again, self-fulfilling, more attacks = more crits = faster attacks = more attacks.

Ferocious Inspiration - Party Buff from the pet on every crit, and my pet crits alot. And 9% extra dmg for my arcane shot. No good reason not to take this.

Bestial Wrath - The hulking great damage bonus to all BM hunters. Get this talent, and reduce its cooldowns as much as possibe, and you can spend 18 seconds out of every 60 as a giant red carnage machine.

Serpents Swiftness - More attacks for me, and more attacks for my pet. Follows the basic more is always better principal.

Longevity - See Bestial Wrath

The Beast Within - See Bestial Wrath

Cobra Strikes - When I crit, my pet crits, when my pet crits the party gets buffed, and I and my pet do more dmg.

Kindred Spirits - The movement speed increase is negligible, but the 9% dmg increase for all pet attacks is a bonus. Only 3/5 on this one though, to make the trees points up to reach the bottom.

Beast Mastery - It's what the tree is all about. Exotic pets are fancy, though I don't have any. But the main use for this is the 4 extra points for my pet, which count for alot.


MarksmanShip:

Focused Aim - Chance to hit increased by 3%. At endgame this is one of the most important stats. Pushback mitigation... meh... you shouldnt be getting hit anyway.

Lethal Shots - 5% extra chance to crit. More crit = more dmg + pet crits =... you get the idea.

Careful Aim - 100% of my Intel becomes AP.... absolutely no reason not to have this one.

Go for the Throat - This talent is negotiable, it could be placed in one of a few talents instead, but all generally give the same amount of boost. But when I crit, my pet gets to pull off more special moves, which is always good.


Survival:

Improved Tracking - 5% dmg increase to all mobs. Wonderful talent, but best when teamed with an addon like AutoTrack, which will switch tracking for you automatically.

Survival Instincts - Less dmg taken is always better, but you shouldn't be getting hit. however 4% extra chance to crit with your main shot types is a big plus.


Notes:

I'm considering switching the points in Go For the Throat and Survival Instincts for 4 in Mortal Shots. I crit around 30-35% of the time, so that could provide much better overall DPS.
I might also move a point or two from lethal shots into Aimed Shot, and weave it into my rotation. + 408 dmg on every shot, and I shoot at least once per second, could potentially mean +408 DPS. I'll be giving it a try.

Improved Hunters Mark - Is nowhere near as good as it looks. The bonus doesn't scale at endgame. As it's a fixed increase, not a % of my stats.