Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Arena newbie - Hunter Guide

So, it's time for arena on your hunter, aye? I bet you think since you lead in killing blows all the time in WSG, you will totally own in arena too! Well, sadly, you couldn't be more wrong! Regardless, do not be deterred. With practice and spec manipulation, in time you will likely find some success in arena! Here are my tips for success when you take your first steps into arenahood.

1. Get the blue pvp set! I know sometimes grinding the reputation needed for items is tedious, but this set is cake. it only takes honored reputation and it is vastly superior to the blues and greens from most dungeons. Resilience is the key. if you have -0- then expect to drop like a rock. if it is 150+ then expect to last and be able to fight. get to 300 and you are able to truly compete (400 and you now have only skill to work on).

2.. Gem for your build. In the beginning, you will likely not know which build will succeed in arena. So, gem the blue set and then play with the three tree's to see what works. Early on, you may want to make sure all of your gems have stamina. 10k hp is a great early goal. When I first began, I used gem's that were x + stamina (x being agility, critical strike chance, etc.). Arena is not about how much damage you can do as much as it is about how long you can be in the fight. Doing huge burst is great, but if the other team survives it and you die, then what good is your +attack power gems and only 8k hp?

3. Aspect of the Viper! I see a lot of hunters using Aspect of the Hawk in arena. Ugh...that's all I ever say. Please remember that Viper is how you survive a DPS+Healer team. Stay in hawk and you are doomed. Remember, a hunter can only do as much as his or her mana pool allows. Why risk losing your fuel source!? I personally have given up Hawk and reserved it for 2v2 arena teams with a second DPS class as my teammate. Having mana is more important to me than 150 attack power.

You may say you switch to Viper when you need it and it is a waste early, but after doing hundreds of arena matches, that tactic is not for me. I really...REALLY want mana when it comes time to close a match. Nothing worse than getting down to a 1v1 scenario and you have no mana (especially if you know you could win with mana). Also, how many times have you forgot to switch your aspect to viper until it was too late?

4. Do not be afraid to experiment. if you are truly a beast master and nothing will ever change that, then more power to you (with practice, you can be great with any build). I encourage you to go out, farm 500g and start playing with your class. I have learned all 3 hunter tree's well and feel comfortable in arena as any build. I would never have discovered the fun of the 0/27/34 build without arena! Also, maybe you don't like to crowd control, maybe you aren't good at kiting (these are traits of a someone who should really try out BM).

5. Expect things to be hard. I have 400 resilience and 12.8k hp and I still have trouble in arena. Hunter are severely handicapped in arena. The hunter problem is really only in 2v2 arena. So, if you want a better chance at instant success, you may want to try 3v3 or 5v5 right off the bat. Especially 5v5 arena! You get more points faster and hunters are excellent dps for a 5v5 team.

6. Find a solid and reliable teammate who you can work well with. If you decide to do 2v2 as a focus (easiest to focus on and organize) then find a teammate you can work with. Personally I like to run with Retribution paladins, amazing rogues and Sl/SL warlocks. Moonkin and elemental shaman are my preference, but I can never find them!!

To be honest though, any strong teammate is best to practice with when you first start and see what you can do. A lot of people will say "hunters are definitely best with X", but I implore you to find this out for yourself. Trust me, 2v2 is hard enough without having the daunting task of finding a very specific teammate who may be some stranger that you may or may not work well with.

7. Do not be afraid to spend arena points on the "lower" arena items. Right now that would mean buying vengeful instead of Brutal gear. By all means grab the gloves when you can, but do not feel defeated to buy vengeful if your not getting the ratings for brutal. vengeful is amazing gear and it will help you get the ratings. Trust me, the vengeful will help so much and you will get higher ratings, more points and the brutal will come in time.

8. Practice is my final piece of information. The more you play arena, the better you will be. I assure you that if you find a teammate that you work well with and the two of you practice, then you will eventually become awesome!

As always, if you have any questions, please ask!

3 comments:

Kordwar said...

I can't stress how much i agree with the experimentation idea, thats the reason Goodoopile and Murtdragons hit 2200 in season 3 (or was it 2?) as SV hunter/ Resto shaman. I did 2s with a PoM pyro mage and hit 1700 in one night, got my S4 helm and guardian boots :D

Nomakk said...

Agreed Kordwar - You are truly only as good as your creative mind as a hunter in arena :)

Bandet said...

You are pretty much going to get pwned once you start in arenas.

Even the bad people who are at 1500 have been playing for awhile so they have full epic s3/s4 pvp gear. Since WoW is about gear, you WILL lose at the start, unless they are just terribly bad, like... really bad... they have to be extremely bad to lose in that situation. They two shot you, and you do 200 damage.

You pretty much have to get the s2 gear (Or.. whatever the hell they have thats equivalent to welfare epics in wotlk) and maybe play 10 matches and lose 9 of them every week until you are in full epics and have a fighting chance, even then you will be outgunned, but you will be 4 shotted instead of 2 shotted.