WoW: Topping the Meter as Hunter 3.08

This post is about my WoW’s way of topping the parser. You might find some of the skills below that will be useful in FFXI =) Especially in soloing. But it is WoW centric, thought I’d throw this as a warning =) and a long read.

Mai as DPS/DD

One thing I miss out in FFXi is playing as a DPS/DD. It was so errr.. limited in FF to show off my “video game researching skills” :o… well not anymore! From FF, I knew how fun and competitive playing as a DPS/DD, so I picked a DPS in WoW :)

Honestly, I knew hunter was easy to play with – from the start. In fact, stupid easy. Well.. what does that mean? You better master your class since it’s already easy! Which is what I believe I did. Topping the Naxxmaras 25man DPS meter/parser =)

So in this post, I’m just going to dump everything I know about topping the meter. Like to at least squeeze 4k DPS in Naxxramas Heroic. I also assume you have somewhat decent knowledge about hunter/dps and how to utilize shots, instant shots and cast shots, as well as blowing cooldown at the right time.

Talent Choices

This is a typical WoW SV Hunter Setup.

Why I pick these? Well start grilling this thread. It’d take some time but it’d be a good read.

I’ve fine tune the last few Talent to my playstyle. Remember your playstyle matters too when it comes to Talent build :) WoW isn’t just about gear, its about the player and their choices that they make too.

Pet and Pet Talent Choices for Raids

Have a read here at Petopia.
Raid Pet = DPS = Ferocity pet. Yes, you can pick others. But why? You want more numbers!

QQ: OMG it dies SO FAST
Answer: Skillz, protect your pet. It is your job as a Hunter to keep your pet up. They add an additonal 300+dps to your account. It could mean topping the meter, or just being a “typical” huntard. Use Mend Pet when it starts dipping under 75%. Not when it’s 50%, or 25%.

Mai Pet Talent here.

A few things to note:

• Your HIT rating from your Char is transferred to your pet, but rounded down. 7.99% hit = 7% on pet, 8.01% is 8% on pet. It’s crucial that you make it to the next tier.
• Cower not only decreases the chance your pet take hate, but reduces damage done to the pet! CD 10sec, last 10sec.. which means.. 20% less damage 24/7 for a 2/2 Cower (its up to you if you want it though)!
• Heart of the Phoenix. Is a waste of Talent. Lets get it straight. You WILL protect your pet and will not let it die. So lets not waste point on that thing.

Gear Choices

In the WoW Hunter world, you’d never be facing a piece where… you can’t pick between the two. One piece is always more superior than the other. In FFXi, a lot of gear are situational based. Some are for resting, some are for nuking etc. Well…

How did I choose mines? Through an Excel Gear Calculator. Download that Excel sheet that he/she wrote.

As a Raiding Hunter, you need to ask yourself a few things when selecting gear (without the excel sheet above).

• Does your Talent Tree multiplies Attack Power(AP), Multiplies Agility? or a lot of stuff Procs on Crit.
• Are you hitting stuff?
• Is your Hunter overall going to benefit from this gear (such as a 4/5 Tier4 gives set bonus)

BUT with the excel sheet above, all you need to do is plug in a few information, and it pulls all your information off WoW armory, all your Talent and Gear and tells you what to do. Honestly, I’d just use the Excel sheet. Its more ass-kicking then trying to eye ball to pick between 100Ap or 50agi. So… perhaps lets get into … how to use the Excel Sheet!

The Shandara Gear Sheet

The Shandara Hunter-Only gear sheet basically… takes into consideration all your gem/talent choices etc, and spits out what’s best for you. Just sit and think. If you were a MM hunter, you have Talent that scales AP, whereas SV, you have talent that scales AGI. So a MM hunter would want more AP whereas a Survival Hunter would want more AGI. Well this excel sheet does all the math for you. So here’s a little quick crash course in his/her excel sheet.

Of course, download it here if you haven’t already done so.

Here’s the guide for what I circled. Of course, first and foremost, goto the “Overview” tab at the bottom.

1. Enable Macros/ActiveX. You need to click this in order to open the dialogue box that’s in #2
2. Enable the Thingie. This ActiveX allows you to press 1 button to grab all your gear setting and stuff from WoW’s Armory.
3. Click OK when Prompt
4. Enter your Char’s name there. For me it’s Shantotto.
5. Your Realm. Obviously! Your server type just below it!

The excel sheet is now catered to you. You might want to save at this point :)

Now you need to import your gear. So goto

Gear (6) –> Load from Armory (7). Here’s a SS of where it is.

Now that you got your shit loaded, you click to “Overview” again, scroll down and you’d find “Hunter’s Statistics”. These are the real math that you are interested.

Attribute DPS
Agility + 1 0.793
AP + 1 0.414
Crit + 1 0.556
Hunter Hit + 1 0.888
Pet Hit + 1 0.629
Int + 1 0.456 (Careful Aim)
ArP Rating+1 0.543 (Armor Penetration)
Haste + 1 0.404 0.404
Stamina+1 0.000 0.000
Mp5 0.000 0.000

From my own table, each HIT (rating) increase, it equates to a 0.888 DPS increase. Whereas AGI only increases by 0.793 (taken everything into consideration except random-ness). If you think about it, each possible miss is a hit, and a hit for me is around 800dmg. Whereas increasing AGI multiplies by the Talent, but still, it’s adding damage versus missing a chunk of damage. So yea, to me, hit is important.

How Much HIT? Lv80 Hunter have a 8% chance to miss. Increasing your HIT rating by 32.79 will increase your chance to hit by 1%.

32.79hit RATING x 8 = 262.32 = 263 hit rating needed (else your pet gets round down).
If you have Careful AIM (Talent gives you 3%) then 32.79 x 5 = 163.95 = 164 hit rating.

To see if you’re hitting or missing, use recount. This parser takes pets into consideration, unlike the parser before… splits your pet and your own dps up!

And No! You can’t have 101% HIT or keep stacking HIT. There is a cap and eventually, you must go for other stats! Remember, that HIT in WoW is a single roll table. They aren’t like FFXI where they first roll for hit, if it hits, will it crit? etc.

WoW is, HIT takes away from MISS
CRIT takes away from HIT.
HIT can never be more than CRIT.

So you are technically eating each other’s pie :D

Well lets say hit problem is gone. Well next on the list is… AGI. then Crit, then Armor Penetration rating… see what I mean? So once I cap HIT, I stack AGI anywhere I can see, if that’s not available, then I’ll goto Crit, then Armor Penetration rating!

You shouldn’t have any question regarding… stats choice.

Now say you are super lazy, you don’t wanna compute what each piece gives how much deeps, no worry, “Gear Planner” is here to do the math for each equipment FOR you.

Gear Planner – Shandara’s Sheet

Shandara’s sheet shows you what is currently “the best” gear for Hunter, and also highlights YOUR piece if its in the top 10, and if not, it’d be in the YELLOW area.

If you look at top right, my “Valorous Cryptstalker’s Handguards” will only be #7, the #1 hands “Frosted Adroit Handguards”, will increase my DPS by 83.99 (taken everything into consideration). Well… yea lol maybe I should play a little bit more to get those! So yea, if you load your data in, you can easily tell if an item drop in a Raid should be rolled or not :)

Well seems like I’ve covered GEAR selection. Now onto Mai playstyle.

Keyboard Ergonomics

In FFXI, we all play with just a keyboard. Our left hand is usually on WASD, whereas our right hand is usually on the number pad for maneuver. When I create my key bindings or spell keys, I give it a little thought. For Utsusemi: I know walking would interrupt my cast, so where do I macro it? Ctrl + 0. I remove my right hand, leaps over to the IJKL and press Ctrl 0. This ensures that I will not do stupid things while I cast Utsu.. and will be unable to move because my hand is physically not over the number pad. Of course, if you want to make key bindings such as Alt R in FFXI, you’d have to use Windower :D.

Well the same concept can be applied to WoW. When you are walking using WASD, it is nearly impossible to press Ctrl 2. Well.. guess what, that’s my Volley button. All my instant shots are bind so that I can maneuver and shoot at the same time, such as the “keyboard” 3 4 5. All my non-instant shots (need to cast, channeling spells) are all on keys that I cannot press while I am on WASD :)

Since your right hand (for WoW at least) will be mostly on the mouse, make use of your left hand. Keys like Q E R T Y F G H V C X and Z are all good keys for your spells. Well don’t just set anything. Give it a little bit thought.

For me, Rapid Shot will be for “R”
Tranquilizing Shot will be “T”
Scatter Shot for me would be “F”, because I’m getting fucked, and need to get out, so “F” him! =)

I know about Jumps and Strafing. So yea, if you wanna say you can macro anything while you Jump well by all means :) (which is the greatest thing about WoW). It’s just that your fingers got to be quick if you wanna use Strafe while you press impossible-to-press button like Ctrl+2 while walking.

But whatever it is, give it thoughts and ensure it’s fail proof or at least.. easy to recall. One horrible mistake that I made was I just macro spells into FFXI as I see it. By the time I was Lv41 RDM, My Alt is all filed up, so I put refresh at Ctrl 7. It’s like leaping an octave everytime I try to cast refresh. I tried changing but it’s really hard when you’ve played FFXI 5 years and try to change a Habit. So yea.. plan early.

Macros

This one is rather hard to really explain. It would take days to understand macros but… to start off, read the WoWWiki on Hunter Macros. Then after that, have a good read on this thread on macros. They are more pros and.. talk about macros related to WotlK.

With the above 2 reads, you should somewhat understanding macros. Now I’ll go over my own macros that I use to top off meters.

Normal Shot Rotation:

#showtooltip Steady Shot <-- shows you steady shot mana etc when you highlight the icon /console Sound_EnableSFX 0 <-- takes away your shot not ready speech for now /cast [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command <-- Use Kill Command if there is a target /cast Kill Shot <-- 1st shot in priority, ensure this shot always casts if it's up /cast Steady Shot <-- if Kill Shot not up, cast Steady Shot /cast [target=pettarget, exists] Claw <-- Manually cast Claw from your pet. This ensure the efficient use of Focus (TP) /console Sound_EnableSFX 1 <-- enable the voices again. Note: Auto Shot is no longer affected by casting, it'd go off regardless, so the /cast !Auto Shot is no longer needed. You also spam this when nothing is proc-ing. Explosive Shot Rotation #showtooltip Explosive Shot /console Sound_EnableSFX 0 /script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE"); /cast Explosive Shot /cast [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command /console Sound_EnableSFX 1 Rapid Shot Macro /cast Rapid Fire <-- Use Rapid Fire /cast Call of the Wild <-- Also uses Pet 10% damage buff (Put all your trinkets here) How to Use These Macros

These macros is not a one-size fits all. You still need great attention to efficiently push all DPS out of the Hunter. The macro that I design only contains shots that can be casted as soon as it’s up. Such as Kill Shot, or Kill Command…. but stuff like Serpent Sting… you don’t need to cast it even when its up because.. it’s a DoT and it’s probably still ticking so… it’s not part of the macros. Aimed Shot is also not in the macro because it’s not good DPS, and is one shot that can be skipped if there’s no cast time before Explosive Shot is up.

The Explosive Shot macro is pretty much Explosive Shot itself plus Kill Command etc. It doesn’t even need to be in a macro :)

Rapid Shot ensures that your maximum damage is achieved by using both Rapid Shot and Pet’s Damage buff together. Never put Call of the Wild on auto.. it’s a complete waste.

I’ll explain more about how I use it later.

The In-Game Part now.

With everything set outside or preparation, the last thing left is actually playing the Hunter. It’s actually not as hard as it sounds.

Here’s a few tip to remember as a 3.08 Hunter.

• Your “Tracking” has changed. Tracking the right thing gives DAMAGE BONUS (3%)! So if you’re fighting Wintergrasp Raid, ensure you have track Giants
• Your Sniper Training as of this patch is damage increase by standing 30 yards or further. This requires the use of “RangeDisplay“, similar to “Distance” in FFXI. Patch 3.1 will be modified to standing still for 6sec. Well.. stand still! LOL
• Eat Flask + Food, it’s one important aspect of breaking the meter. Plus common, we have Feint death, save a lot of gold anyway so.. lets just a little fair, at least eat food!
• Stack ALL BUFFS and DAMAGE increase with RAID buffs such as Bloodlust. It is completely stupid to pop your own trinket without Raid-Wide Buffs, not only your threat level might exceed the tank when it is not synchronize, you aren’t maximizing damage.

So yea.. now onto the actual fight.

The Scanning Technique

This is by far IMO, what makes me pull high dps :D it’s when I process the information quickly and efficiently and making right decisions with consistency and accuracy. This takes practice, but overtime it can be done. It’s like driving. I’m pretty sure you don’t think about it anymore… practice makes perfect.

You got to develop a scanning technique to extract information that’s more critical to your job/class. For me, it’s exacting debuffs, DoT’s and shot timers. Here’s my scanning technique. (Number refers to the position in the black and white screenshot).

• I start off with 1. That is my character Tor my environment. Unlike FFXI, environment plays a big role in the gameplay, and there are shit that kills you instantly. It is vital to keep yourself safe. Safety is always first. You Die, Your DPS Dies with it.
• I take a quick glance at 2. I look for Serpent Sting (Lock and Load can’t proc without Serpent) and I also look at it for Explosive Shot (if I’m on LnL)
• I now go back to 1, to ensure I am not in any type of void zones or firewalls. If you see yourself with Bloodlust, it’s time to pop trinkets (or of course, sound effects). Lock and Load (and any proc that I care, also pops a big icon beside my char, so I’m also scanning for that)
• I now glance at 3 for all my debuffs. You should take note of any type of stacking debuffs or DoT’s that might kill you. In the screenshot, the horses gives debuffs, I as a DPS, gotta ensure I am not getting 2 debuffs (other horseman)
• I go back to 1, looking for void zone, mana detonation, AoE balls, blizzards, buffs like bloodlust or Lock and Load and I restart my cycle again.
• I now go back to 4, to check my Cooldown for synchronization. If somehow Explosive Shot is up, I fire it. If they aren’t synchronize, I do relative adjustment to it. I pack all shots into a section so when I look, I have all the information there
• I now go back to 1, rinse and repeat!

When you scan, you never STARE at things, you GLANCE at it. When you glance, make sure you aren’t just looking over it. Ensure you are “extracting” information out of it and not just say hello and leave. You can scan slower, but make sure you are scanning/looking at the information you are looking for.

I give a lot of attention to 1 because.. the only only thing that can kill you and only you is stuff that is directed at you only. It makes you look like a retard when you die to stupid stuff like Void Zone. And it DOES… makes you look stupid. So I always return my attention to the centre of my character, to ensure safety. Never jeopardize anything for your own safety. You Die, you are good for nothing. This is WoW, and the environment does play a role :) Sorry FFXI :D WoW’s superior in this aspect ;)

And yea.. here’s when a big LCD kicks your ass. Your eyes really gotta move around :x

Shot Priority

Assuming you eat food, reapply buffs, don’t die and spamming good macros. The second last thing is understand where your damage is coming from. I can’t speak for Beast Master (BM) or MM spec, but for SV. I know for sure HUGE damage comes from Explosive Shot. Your second is Auto Shot, 3rd is Steady or Aimed shot, therefore, you need to think what’s your priority. Assuming you use my macro up there, you don’t have to worry about Kill Shot or Kill Command, nor does popping Pet TP moves. The only thing you got to worry about is your own shots. So here, lets lay out my priority in shots and why

1. 45% Damage from Explosive Shot, this shot always takes priority.
2. Serpent Sting. This shot helps proc Lock and Load, allowing you to shoot MORE Explosive Shot, 2nd Prio
3. Aimed Shot if Up (DO NOT CAST if you are LESS < 1.5sec from Explosive Shot being up.)
4. Steady Shot (DO NOT CAST if you are LESS < 1.5sec from Explosive Shot being up.)

So it’s no brainer that my Normal macro spams Steady Shot and all the other garbage but not explosive. Because a macro cannot evaluate if your timer’s about to be up… or if LnL proc. Therefore, the most DPS shot is casted/managed manually by me. You NEVER DELAY an Explosive Shot. NO /castsequence reset=6 will not cut it. I tried :D :D, it locks up your macro and it’s shit. Anyway

On the right is my Explosive Shot timer. As you see from the example on the right, my Explosive Shot was fired 1.5 sec ago because my cooldown needle is 25% of the circle. Explosive Shot is 6sec unmodified timer.

The RED region is where it’s below 1.5sec. A typical Steady Shot is 1.5esc to cast. Therefore, if you are within the red region of your explosive shot, you should not be spamming my normal macro, but instead, spamming on explosive shot macro. Aimed Shot should be fired right after Explosive. Both are 6sec timer, do not shared timer and…is one less thing to worry about.

Lock and Load.. is different. Lock and Load allows you to shoot the next 2 Explosive Shot for free, no ammo no mana and the proc condition is applying Serpent Sting (which is why it’s 2nd in priority). Explosive Shot got a 2sec DoT, that means.. if you get 3 shots, don’t shoot them all at once. WAIT for the DoT to finish, then fire your second FREE shot. Your Global Cooldown will be up before your DoT finishes its job so be sure to WAIT a bit then FIRE your second FREE explosive shot.

With explosive shot managed and Auto Shot, you are almost done with topping the DPS parser. Now all of the above ASSUMES you are standing still =P The last part in topping DPS in all environments!

Topping the Meters while Strafing

A technique that I developed in PvP. Strafe.

Strafing means your character is moving forward via a jump, while that jump is happening, you turn 180 degree, shoot, and turn back 180 degree in the original direction you were jumping.

We all know that in WoW, you walk in normal speed when you walk sideways, or forward. But if you start hopping backwards (from your 91 degree to 269 degree), you decrease your speed (not turning and walking back, just the movement of moving back while you are facing the direction you aren’t moving in). Therefore, Hunters (especially us), uses a technique of jump, shoot everything u need and land with the direction you want to go. It’s a lot of practice here :)

Ok.. you got the idea. You know how to jump but now… combine that with efficient shot rotation :)

If you are in a fight where you need to move a lot, then you got to really plan your shots. The way I do it is… always plan all moves right BEFORE explosive shot is up. Because… Explosive Shot is instant, and so is Aimed, I try to stack all my instant shots and move and shoot those instant shots while I move. Your Autoshot will shoot anyway so.. by shooting instants, you aren’t wasting your Global Cooldown =). I also try to reapply Serpent Sting as well as Hunter’s Mark while I strafe (or if I need to Strafe/move for an extended period). Once I land, I do my fancy Steady Shots =) I find it extremely helpful :) and hehe, tops damage meters even when I move.

The Trap Dance

Did you know, trap makes your Lock and Load procs right away? (well of course, LnL can only proc every 30sec, but once that’s up, it will proc right away). So what people came up with, is something call a Trap Dance. once LnL is about or is up, go up to the boss, put a flame trap. It’s not to do damage, but to Proc LnL, allowing you to shoot 2 Explosive Shot.

The people at WoW Insider prefers to shoot a shot in-between. But I wouldn’t recommend it. Simply because… some situation you might not have the luxury to do so. Say You Fire your explosive shot, then LnL procs, well your LnL wouldn’t be up for another 6sec, leaving you 4sec to spam Explosive Shot. if you squeeze shot, you might not get the 2nd free shot in if there were any interruption. It doesn’t mean its bad, its just based on situation and you got to use your experience to see for yourselves. I like to play it safe and ensure I get my free shot, then trying to squeeze a tiny dps shot and lose my big dps shot.

Closing Thought

Hunter is not a hard class compared to all other class. We don’t have too much to worry about and… its really not that hard. So I just want to share what I learn to become a real DPS Hunter, and not a Huntard. I hope it’s been an entertaining read. I’ll go back and make modification and add screenshots!

I’ll update this as I compile information or make it simplier to read =)

PS:

• Good Read on how GM Dave featured in Massively about FFXI/WoW Swapover.
• Progress versus easy content. Bring the Player not the Class?