Hybrid DPS a myth?

Hmmmmm.....so......you have no 41st points? Hmm...and only 1400 RAP? I'm sorry, we need heavier dps than you can provide, sorry!

I have come to the realization that the Survival Hunter is severely underrated when it comes to their effectiveness in the dps category. To think, I consistently lead or lose to our rogue in Kara by 1% or less in DPS. Mages, other Hunters, moonkins, feral druids and shadow priests, I beat them all. Until this past week, always with Valano's Longbow. This in and of itself should prove the point. I will give you that my gear is nice, 749 agility and nearly all purped out now, but we all know the reputation....BM is boss and MM is a respectable second. Riiiiiight.

Well, let's be fair, I will never have 2,000 RAP unbuffed until BT type gear. That being said, I WILL have 30% crit without ever stepping foot beyond Gruul's. I will probably approach 35%! This is my focus and it is half the reason I can put out solid DPS. A hunter with 2000 RAP vs my 1400 will likely fall short of me in crit. My survival tree provides me with both 15% agility boost and 3% additional crit. So, I find myself staring at gear that will discount my agility for RAP and you know what....I pass it right along. Crit is where I am going to make my money, I have come to terms with that (being MM for so long, this was no easy task).

As I mentioned, crit is only half the story. The other half lies in the beautiful Surefooted talents. I have 3% additional hit rating for my pve side and 15% root resist for my pvp side. They are 3 of my favorites talent points. They have created the ability to really ignore hit and just let my nice pieces with hit compliment my 3%. I can instead focus on agility and still help my pve abilities at the same time. My miss in my kara runs is .01% which is pretty ncie with my only have 60ish hit rating.

Also, I find shot rotation to be a huge part of my dps. I don't use anything standard or cookie cutter (at least I don't think so!). My rotation is something like this:

A) Rapid fire ->Aimed Shot -> Auto -> Serpent Sting-> Auto - Arcane -> Auto -> Multi-shot (angled if needed) -> Auto -> Feign Death -> Aimed Shot (on the tail end of rapid fire) -> auto and repeat with Steady in place of Aimed from here.

B) RF on CD - Serpent Sting -> Auto -> Steady Shot -> Auto -> Arcane -> Auto -> Multi-shot -> Auto -> Feign Death -> Serpent Sting and repeat.

I have read that multi-shot and Serpent sting are not worth the mana, but I always find that mana is not an issue for me. Firstly, I use Mana Oil and do my raids in Hawk. I drink in between fights, usually for only 5-7 seconds; the next pull comes whether or not I am ready. Considering I grab 80 drinks from the refreshment portal or always have tons of water, this is an easy way to keep mana fresh. In boss fights I simply stay in Viper for the fight and use 1 mana pot if need be. If I have a third paladin with blessing of wisdom for me, then I am golden!

Trapping with Multi-shot as part of your rotation is so easy because you manipulate where you trap....just don't pull your trap with multi-shot! :) Live for the crit!

Why do I use an Agility build?

Ok, so when my gear and spec are looked at, it may beg the question, why have I built my character around agility? it is based solely on common sense and a little bit of the desire to be extreme.

#1 Reason: Logic
Agility provides me with everything a hunter may need; dodge, crit, atp and armor. So, not only do I survive longer, but I also increase my dps. In pve, agility has provided me with the opportunity to output large dps through crit and a respectable attack power rating. Now, in pvp, agility has a more dramatic effect. Not only am I critting near 30% of the time, but I am also dodging close to 30% of the time. When I reach a point where wyvern sting, my trap and deterrence have all reached their cooldown, those extra dodge % points really start to matter and save my life. Nothing like dodging something when below 10% health.

#2 Reason: Being extreme
In pvp, no matter how geared you get, or how good you get at your class, the gaps remain small between great pvp'rs are average ones. In essence, you have to really set yourself apart from the crowd to have a dramatic advantage. For example, for those of you who love to "twink" a character. How does Kang the decapitator feel from a mortal strike warrior or from a nice critting windfury? That weapon sets those characters apart from the crowd. So, I looked at my class for a long while and decided on two things: Scatter shot will likely always be with me -and- the 15% agility points are underrated. That being said, I have become a hybrid hunter (0/26/35) and utilizing the two tools I find to be perfect for my style of play. Just for fun, I also now have wyvern sting! :) As my gear upgrades and I grow my agility, I am sure eventually when I can find a way to hit 900 agility, everything else will come along with it (the hp and mp more specifically).

#3 Reason: My build and my arena team
As mentioned above, my build is designed to compound my agility by 15% (not to mention my stamina by 10% as well). So, by design I am tailored for agility! In addition to that, my arena team is one that is probably the rarest. Survival hunter + Moonkin, how often have you seen that combination? In this team I have 1 job....survive. My moonkin shadowmelds and I make myself the bait. It is my only goal to create as much chaos and do as much burst as I can while my moonkin burns down our opposition (which surprisingly the moonkin is IMO one of the best at - spells for heavy armor and trees for light, good luck surviving him!). My agility has provided me with a decent armor, dodge approaching 40% in Monkey and not to mention the ability to throw decent damage out in a short period of time!

Side note: If you ever create an arena team like mine, please do not argue that the moonkin should be the bait. Believe me, through countless arena matches we have discovered the hunter is far superior at surviving than a moonkin. In addition to that, resistances mean very little in arena, so the moonkin spell dps is boss over your physical. Sooooo, granting your moonkin the free dps rain until the other 2 tricksters get their sorts will prove quite successful!

Live in the agility world! 800, here I come! (749 now!)

Finally starting the good ole hunter blog!

So, I have finally started the old hunter blog to share my knowledge of the hunter class with others! I am sure you will find more technical savvy hunters out there, but I will gladly share my combat expertise with you. being actively in pvp, arena and raiding I have a couple of good practices I will share throughout.

I can start with the basics. My build, 0/26/35 is designed to compliment the Moonkin teammate I have in arena. Being a moonkin - survival hunter, we are probably the rarest arena team you can make! My build is designed to survive is probably the best description. I have very good crowd control in wyvern, plus trap cooldown reduction. Furthermore, scatter shot is the most pivotal hunter skill for my build.

Back in the day, scatter shot was the skilled hunters greatest tool. Now-a-days the old BM spec has simplified the hunter into a "spec BM or struggle in arena" class IMO. Not to say I struggle in arena....too much, but it would be much easier if a warrior couldn't slow me or anything for 18s of course :)

The other key to my spec is agility and crit. My agility hit 699 last night when Gruul dropped me a pair of delicious gloves (even Sadie thinks they are teh sexy). When i enchant them tonight (15 agility) I will eclipse 700 and hit 715 (finally). Now to start building on that to obtain 750, then later down the line possibly 800. With agility comes crit, so in addition the the 8% crit i get in talents, I am building more and more crit in gear as well. I am hovering at 27% now. That is the beauty of my spec, not only do i get grand agility, but also 10% boost to all stamina pieces as well. So, agility and stamina both get a slight compound for me!

Final Note: Patch 2.3! This patch is like a direct buff to my spec. Insta-Wyvern, better stings (already have improved) and the death of the dead-zone (maybe). So, things are looking even better for my spec! More to come, please feel free to ask any questions you may have!

I will also be posting, Paladin (51), Druid (49) and other possible alts I have the desire to reflect upon! Stay Tuned!