No one likes a player who comes to a raid unprepared or more specifically unenchanted, ungemmed, unglyphed and without consumables. More often than not such a player will be booted from a raid. So to be competitive in raids and pump out dps to your full potential you will need to know which gems, enchants, glyphs and consumables to use.

With the release of Cataclysm we have seen a new bunch of gems, glyphs, enchants and consumables. Below is a concise guide on what best to equip/use in 4.0.6.

Gems

Red sockets:   Delicate Inferno Ruby (or Delicate Chimera’s Eye if you’re a JC)

Yellow sockets: Deadly Ember Topaz

Blue sockets:  Delicate Inferno Ruby (or Glinting Demonseye if socket bonus is at least 20 agility)

Meta Gem: Agile Shadowspirit Diamond

Firstly make sure you satisify your meta gem requirement by equiping 3 red gems (which is your main gem anyway so this is no problem). Also because agility is our best stat we will be ignoring all blue sockets and equiping +40 agility gems if the socket bonus is less than 20 agility. For yellow sockets however if the socket bonus provides at least 10 agility or 20 of another stat then it is worth using the Deadly Ember Topaz orange gem (as specified by Frostheim from Hunters Union).

Glyphs

BM Prime Glyphs 

1. Glyph of Arcane Shot (Arcane Shot is used by BM hunters regularly and a 12% boost makes this glyph a must)
2. Glyph of Kill Command (solid glyph that provides a nice dps gain)
3. Glyph of Kill Shot (two kills shots in a row is awesome. This glyph provides more dps than Glyph of Serpent Sting if your hunter is geared, however the dps gain will vary depending on the fight duration)
4. Glyph of Serpent Sting (viable option, provides a constant dps benefit)

BM Major Glyphs

1. Glyph of Disengage (can be handy in raids)
2. Glyph of Bestial Wrath (nice dps gain, rivals some prime glyphs!)

Marksman Prime Glyphs

1. Glyph of Steady Shot (10% boost is nice to a shot that is already a large contribution to your dps)
2. Glyph of Arcane Shot 
3. Glyph of Kill Shot 
4. Glyph of Chimera Shot (very viable glyph, however you need to be precise and comfortable with your rotation to utilise the benefits of this glyph.)

Marksman Major Glyphs

1. Glyph of Disengage
2. Glyph of Silencing Shot

Survival Prime Glyphs

1. Glyph of Explosive Shot (a 6% boost to your main shot makes this glyph a no brainer)
2. Glyph of Serpent Sting (good for SV as its gets more benefit from Serpent Sting through mastery and Toxicology)
3. Glyph of Kill Shot
4. Glyph of Arcane Shot (grabbing this glyph instead of Kill Shot depends on your gear and haste, which in turn affects your rotation. If you find yourself firing more and more Arcane Shots grab this glyph instead)

Survival Major Glyphs

1. Glyph of Disengage 

Minor Glyphs

1. Glyph of Feign Death (can be handy in raids)
2. Glyph of Mend Pet (pretty much means you don’t have to carry food for your pet anymore)

Enchants

Head: Arcanum of the Ramkahen (obtained from the Ramkahen Quartermaster and requires a reputation of revered)

Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal (obtained from the Therazane Quartermaster and requires a reputation of exalted. If you’re only honored with Therazane you can get Lesser Inscription of Shattered Crystal while working your way to exalted.)

Chest: Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats (if you cannot get hold of the required Maelstrom Crystals, Enchant Chest – Mighty Stats is your best option.) 

Waist: Ebonsteel Belt Buckle

Back: Enchant Cloak – Major Agility

Wrists:  Enchant Bracer – Agility

Legs: Dragonscale Leg Armor

Feet: Enchant Boots – Major Agility ( or Enchant Boots – Assassin’s Step if you prefer the slight speed increase instead of the extra agility)

Gloves: Enchant Gloves – Major Agility

Weapon (2-hand): Enchant 2H Weapon – Mighty Agility

Rings: Enchant Ring – Agilty (if you are an enchanter)

Consumables

Flasks: Flask of the Winds (expensive but provides amazing stats and persists through death. A must for any raid.)

Food: Skewered Eel (or Seafood Magnifique Feast when your guild is able to make them)

Potions: Potion of the Tol’vir (recommended to use during boss burn phases to maximise dps. Best used together with Heroism/Bloodlust/Timewarp)

Drums:  Drums of Forgotten Kings (recommended to use if you have no pally or druid in your raid)

Following this guide and preparing yours for raids (and even heroics) in the correct way will show fellow raiders and party members that you are serious about raiding and are prepared to contribute to your full potential. You will also have more fun raiding when you see the dps increase a little preparation can do.

Today I’m going to discuss gemming options, glyphs, stat priority and reforging as a hunter. There has been some very interesting changes for the hunter class with the introduction of 4.0.1 and unfortunately it appears that these changes have significantly affected our dps in a negative way.  So it is important that we make the appropriate changes to ensure we make the most of our already depleted dps. 

Gemming

Agility is out best stat after we reach the Hit Cap, so gemming agility currently is the way to go. It is still unclear what the socket bonus threshold is, so for the time being it may be a good idea to pick up a high agility socket bonus by using either [ Deadly Ametrine ] or [ Deft Ametrine ]. You will also need to use one [ Rigid King’s Amber ] or [ Glinting Dreadstone ] (if not hit capped) for your meta socket requirement. For all other sockets use [ Delicate Cardinal Ruby ] even if you are below the hit cap. This is the preferred option because you can always get your hit rating by reforging and it is better off sacrificing either haste or crit rating via reforging rather than agility via gemming. 

Please also note that it is still unclear whether Deadly Ametrine or Deft Ametrine is preferable for yellow sockets but it is likely dependent on your current crit and haste levels. Especially haste which has been found to improve the flow of your shots and keep your focus in balance at certain levels. 

It is also worth mentioning that [ Nightmare Tears ] are no longer worth using since there is no longer a stat dps bonus from [ Hunter vs. Wild ] and [ Careful Aim ]. 

The gems we want to use are: 

• Meta: [ Relentless Earthsiege Diamond ]
• Red Sockets: [ Delicate Cardinal Ruby ]
• Yellow Sockets: [ Deadly Ametrine ] or [ Deft Ametrine ] or Delicate Cardinal Ruby if socket bonus is not worth getting.
• Blue Sockets: [ Rigid King’s Amber ] or [ Glinting Dreadstone ] if not hit capped, or Delicate Cardinal Ruby if socket bonus is not worth getting.

Glyphs

Currently at level 80 our prime glyphs are very similar across all builds primarily due to the fact that Beast Mastery and Survival don’t have access to [ Cobra Shot ] yet. At level 85 we should see a substantially different makeup between the hunter builds. It should be noted that the new [ Glyph of Serpent Sting ] may yet prove to be a viable glyph to use combined with [ Improved Serpent Sting ], but further testing still needs to be done in this area. Similarly [ Glyph of Chimera Shot ] needs further testing to establish if its a better alternative for Marksman. 

Our major and minor glyphs provide very little benefit to our dps, so it is really up to you what you choose here, but for major glyphs I recommend the [ Glyph of Disengage ] if you utilize this ability and [ Glyph of Silencing Shot ] if specced in [ Silencing Shot ] for the 10 focus regeneration on a successful interrupt. 

BM and Marksman Prime Glyphs 

1. [ Glyph of Steady Shot ]
2. [ Glyph of Arcane Shot ]
3. [ Glyph of Kill Shot ]

Survival Prime Glyphs 

1. [ Glyph of Steady Shot ]
2. [ Glyph of Explosive Shot ]
3. [ Glyph of Kill Shot ]

Major Glyphs 

1. [ Glyph of Disengage ]
2. [ Glyph of Silencing Shot ] (if Marksman)
3. …

Minor Glyphs 

1. [ Glyph of Feign Death ]
2. [ Glyph of Mend Pet ]
3. [ Glyph of Revive Pet ]

Stat Priority and Reforging

Early testing has shown agility to be our best stat, crit rating and mastery rating to be neck and neck for a close second, with haste coming in as a close third. 

However stat weights and priority for hunters is still a topic under investigation and currently there is no decision made on exact stat weights. The complexity of stat weights stems from first working out our shot equations and then testing out a number of different configurations based on a mathematical model. Right now no such model exists and there is some confusion among hunters how our stats stack against each other, especially since it looks like stat weights are specific to not only your talents but also the gear that you have. So it is probably not wise at this stage to reforge all your crit and haste to mastery. However it is definitely a good idea to experiment with different configurations to see the differences in your dps. 

Our main stat priority is currently as follows: 

Hit: Hit Rating post 4.0.1 seems to have changed slightly and it looks like 246 hit rating (8%) will now get you hit capped. If you’re a Draenei, [ Heroic Presence ] will lower this further by 1%. Note that Heroic Presence is no longer a group/raid buff. 

Agility: Agility looks to be the best stat to gem for hunters (once you reach the Hit Cap). Agility now gives us two AP per point instead of one and also increases our crit. 

Mastery: In the early stages of patch 4.0.1 mastery rating is looking like a really viable stat. For a Marksman Hunter, mastery rating increases the chance for every shot to fire an additional shot for 115% weapon damage. Currently the only way to get points in this stat is through Reforging. 

Crit: Prior to patch 4.0.1 crit was a very solid stat for hunters and continues to be so post 4.0.1. Frostheim from warcrafthuntersunion has deduced from his initial testing that there is very little difference in value between crit rating and mastery rating. In most cases you do not have to gem crit as high end icc gear has plenty of crit already. The Crit Cap for hunters is still 104.8%. 

Haste: As mentioned above haste has become a more valuable stat in 4.0.1. Haste will be used to improve focus regeneration and affect the casting speed of both [ Auto Shot ] and [ Steady Shot ]. 

Reforging 

Going off the testing done by Frostheim from warcrafthuntersunion, 1 mastery is better than 1 crit so reforging crit into mastery should in theory improve your dps. Haste is a much more complex stat to weigh because there are a very large number of variables contributing to our margin of error. Initial tests have shown 1 mastery rating to be better than 1 haste rating. Thus reforging haste into mastery should in theory improve your dps. However haste throws another spanner in the works, causing yet more headaches 

“Haste is a bit complex in another way, because there are certain haste plateaus where you hit a “magic” spot in your rotation, and dropping just a couple percent suddenly removes an entire shot from your rotation. Still, the general rule seems to apply in most situations.”      Frostheim 

At the end of the day, I don’t think we will ever work out exactly what is best for level 80, as level 85 is the focus of most theorycrafters. So as mentioned above, have a play around with reforging, and see what you come up with. I have talked to hunters that have reforged haste/crit into mastery and gained dps, and similarly talked to others hunters who have  lost dps by doing so. My small piece of advice is to keep an eye on how much haste you reforge and make sure you do not gimp your focus regeneration too much as this will disrupt the smoothness of your rotation. 

Enchanting

Enchants for patch 4.0.1 are as follow: 

• 2H Weapon: [Formula: Enchant 2H Weapon - Massacre]
• 1H Weapon: [Formula: Enchant Weapon - Superior Potency]
• Ranged Weapon: [Heartseeker Scope]
• Helm: [ Arcanum of Torment ]
• Shoulder: [ Greater Inscription of the Axe ]
• Chest: [Scroll of Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats]
• Pants: [Icescale Leg Armor]
• Gloves: [Scroll of Enchant Gloves - Major Agility] or engineers can use [ Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket ] or [ Hyperspeed Accelerators ]
• Boots: [Scroll of Enchant Boots - Superior Agility] or engineers can use [ Nitro Boosts ]
• Belt: [Eternal Belt Buckle]
• Cloak: [Scroll of Enchant Cloak - Major Agility] or engineers can use [ Flexweave underlay ]

There have been some huge changes in the latest World of Warcraft patch, none so drastic as those given to the hunter class. The most notable of these being hunters no longer use mana, but instead now use focus. Focus generates much like a rogue’s energy, by slowly building up.

Another major change is the removal of ammunition. Guns, bows, and crossbows now do damage without consuming ammo and consequently there will be no more ammo slot on the hunter’s character display. 

The big move from mana to focus means our shots will cost focus now and in doing so the way in which we play our hunter entirely changes. Playing the hunter class will now take a fair bit more concentration and skill as we never want to be capped at 100 focus nor have our focus too low so that we always have the option for burst or any of our utility abilities. Gone are the days of an almost unlimited mana pool where we did not have to sacrifice our big shots for much weaker ones and where we had the luxury of spamming volley. Enter the age where we will weed out the good hunters from the bad due to the more difficult class mechanics. 

Recommended Marksman level 80 build 2/31/3 

The build above focuses on boss dps output and is currently recommended as the best Marksman level 80 dps build by the clever minds at warcrafthuntersunion. Please remember that it is still early days and everything is subject to change. None of this is final and all information will be reviewed and updated once the wrinkles have been ironed out over the next few weeks of testing. 

The following choices where made while trying to reach [ Chimera Shot ] at the bottom of the tree. 

• Omit [ Concussive Barrage ] as it does not work on bosses and does not provide a dps gain.
• While there has been some discussion on the topic of whether to include [ Silencing Shot ], I believe that it is beneficial to do so as it does not cost a GCD, you can macro it into your other shots and most importantly if using the [ Glyph of Silencing Shot ] you get back 10 focus from a free shot which can ultimately be a dps boost.
• There has also been a lot of speculation surrounding whether to put 1 or 2 points in [ Careful Aim ]. Currently at level 80 with a majority of players being icc geared and therefore already having a ton of crit, it can be argued that much of the second point is wasted. However others argue that raid buffs now are contributing much less crit than they did before which would make a second point in Careful Aim the best dps choice over talents such as [ Rapid Killing ], [ Resistance is Futile ], or a second point in [ Bombardment ]. 
• There has not been enough testing done with Bombardment as yet , so it may be the case that further testing will show 2 points here will be more beneficial then filling either Careful Aim or [ Sick’em! ] for example. But being a situational talent it is unlikely.
• [ Marked For Death ] is an interesting talent and one that is worth grabbing. In a single target fight it has limited use as you can use [ Hunter’s Mark ] but the fact that you don’t have to worry about reapplying Hunter’s Mark on long fights means that you can focus solely on your dps rotation. It’s most beneficial use is for raid fights where you have to switch between adds. It allows you to apply the Marked For Death debuff to multiple targets and ultimately means 1 free GCD every time you switch targets.
• Sick’em! was chosen as a filler talent, boosting your dps slightly by allowing your pet to convert much more focus into damage.
• Resistance is Futile has been a confusing talent and one which is omitted as the Marksman build does not currently use [ Kill Command ] within its rotation.
• There are 5 floating points to be used in other trees. Currently the preference is 3 points in [ Pathing ] for the haste boost and 2 points in [ One With Nature ]. There has been argument over the fact that the small dps increase for the 2 points in One With Nature is not worth it and that it might be more beneficial to spend the 2 extra points in [ Improved Serpent Sting ]. Only time and more testing will tell.

Rotation

As can be expected hunters are noticing significant dps losses since the patch 4.0.1 changes. This is probably largely due to hunters struggling to get used to the more challenging focus based system and either getting capped at 100 focus or finding themselves with not enough focus to perform their rotation correctly. All hunter rotations in patch 4.0.1 are priority based. Below is one recommended shot priority rotation for a Marksman Hunter. 

1. If there is no Marked for Death or Hunter’s Mark on the target and the target’s health does not allow for [ Kill Shot ]
    ——> Cast Hunter’s Mark
2. If Kill Shot is off cool down and target’s health is below 20%
   ——> Cast Kill Shot
3. If [ Serpent Sting ] is not on target and you have enough focus
   ——> Cast Serpent Sting
4. If Chimera Shot is off cool down and you have enough focus
   ——> Cast Chimera Shot
5. If [ Master Marksman ] buff is up and focus won’t over cap
    ——> Cast [ Aimed Shot ]
6. If [ Steady Shot ] won’t over cap focus and [ Improved Steady Shot ] buff needs a refresh
    ——> Cast Steady Shot
7. If you have enough focus to cast an [ Arcane Shot ] and then have enough left over to cast Chimera Shot whenever it comes off cool down
   ——> Cast Arcane Shot
8. If none of the above
   ——> Cast Steady Shot

We can see that this rotation will definitely require some concentration and may be quite challenging for some if not most players at first. The hardest part of this rotation will be managing the Improved Steady Shot buff. You will want to fire Steady Shot in pairs to maintain this buff as much as possible. It will provide a decent haste increase which will make your rotation somewhat hard to optimize. For example there will be times when it will be more beneficial to hold off on your free Aimed Shot proc if it hits after just one Steady Shot. The rationalization here is that it is better to wait 1.5 seconds or so on Aimed Shot and casting another Steady Shot then letting the Improved Steady Shot buff drop for 3 or more seconds. 

For those of you that still feel a bit overwhelmed by this rotation, fear not! I have attached a video clip of a Marksman Hunter rotation created by Frostheim from warcrafthuntersunion. Please note this rotation is somewhat outdated as it uses obsolete casts such as Scorpid Sting, but on the whole it provides a great visual guide on how our rotation works. 

Furthermore to give you that extra edge on all those other Marksman hunters out there, I have attached some of the Power Auras scripts I use to keep track of my Improved Steady Shot buff, Chimera Shot cool down and Master Marksman buff (free Aimed Shot proc). I find these to be invaluable and hopefully you will make good use of them to. Import the snippets below using the Import function within Power Auras. Also check out how they look in the image attached below.

1. Ready, Set, Aim… -  This keeps track of your Master Marksman stacks so you can easily identify when your Aimed Shot it is ready.
   Version:3.0.0W; icon:Ability_Hunter_MasterMarksman; buffname:Ready, Set, Aim…; alpha:1; owntex:true; exact:true; size:0.15; y:251; texmode:2; stacks.enabled:true; stacks.Relative:TOP; stacks.Transparent:true@
2. Fire! – Second part of the macro above, inidicating when you should hit Aimed Shot.
   Version:3.0.0W; anim1:4; icon:INV_Spear_07; buffname:Fire!; owntex:true; size:0.3; y:249; texmode:2; timer.enabled:true; timer.Relative:TOP; timer.Transparent:true@
3. Chimera Shot – This keeps track of your Chimera Shot timer.
   Version:3.0.0W; icon:Ability_Hunter_ChimeraShot2; buffname:Chimera Shot; x:250; groupany:false; timerduration:10; unitn:Only for raid/group.; bufftype:7; owntex:true; stacksOperator:=; PowerType:0; spec1:false; combat:true; size:0.12; y:56; texmode:2; inverse:true; timer.h:1.49; timer.Texture:Digital; timer.enabled:true; timer.Relative:RIGHT; timer.Transparent:true@

Final Note

There are some exciting and challenging times ahead for us hunters. I think like with anything once the new focus concept is thoroughly tested, optimized and practiced we will see improvements in our dps. I believe that similar to the builds pre patch 4.0.1 we will see Marksman pull ahead as the top dps build at higher gear levels. However in saying that it should be noted that Marksman once again seems to be the more difficult to play out of the 3 tree choices and a player that is only competent at their class could likely see more dps from the easier rotation that Survival provides. I think it will only be the very good players that will see the advantage Marksman dps will have over Survival dps.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing Jhazy, an orc hunter of Blackrock. With a team and personal rating of over 3000 in 3v3 Arena, it is safe to say that he stands among the top PvP’ers in the world. Jhazy’s team STRAIGHT TO THE TOP is composed of a protection warrior, holy paladin and marksman hunter and is currently ranked #1 in the very competitive Bloodlust battlegroup. I would like to thank him for his time, and wish him and his team the best of luck for the rest of this season.

The interview went as follows:

WoWContender: Would it be ok if I asked you some questions regarding your character and Arena?

Jhazy: Ya you can ask some stuff if you want.

WoWContender: Awesome, much appreciated. Who is currently in your 3v3 Arena team?

Jhazy: Ellihs (holy paladin), Alloraan (protection warrior), and myself.

WoWContender: What hunter build do you suggest for Arena?

Jhazy: I think marksman is currently the best for all around Arena, and BM for beast cleave if you plan on playing that.

WoWContender: You use marksman (0/53/18) for Arena. Can you please explain briefly why u chose this build?

Jhazy: Right, I use marksman. I like 5/5 in survivalist for extra hp, hunters have always been able to just get blown up from something or another, and the extra hp provides that blanket for me to cover under when I get topped off.

WoWContender: What pet do you recommend for Arena and why?

Jhazy: I prefer a serpent for marks, it provides a serpent cover debuff, as well as it’s -25% casting speed debuff while up.

WoWContender: Can you describe your playing style in Arena?

Jhazy: I adapt to the team comp we’re playing against. If I need to sit max range for my healer to not get cc’d with shocks and push in hard I’ll do that. If I need to sit back because I’ll get killed in matter of seconds, I’ll shoot all the same damage from behind pillars popping in and out during mid globals to prevent hard casts.

WoWContender: Are you a keybinder or a clicker?

Jhazy: I keybind. I think I have about 48 keybinds. I only click potions and non pvp utilities. Potions in pve anyway, I bind potions to pvp when I use them.

WoWContender: Can you list the major mods that you use for Arena?

Jhazy: I use Spellcaster, but I turn that on and off now and then. I am using it to train my visual perspective of finding which spells to look for and when they usually occur. Gladius I use as well. But I can play with or without it, makes no difference, just makes the frames bigger. I use CT Unitframes, in the same basic setup that blizz has it, so it looks standard, just in other positions cause I don’t know the macros to move them. And OmniCC just to see numbers on my buttons instead of small timers, that’s about it.

WoWContender: What do you consider as your perfect 3v3 team setup?

Jhazy: There really isn’t a perfect one. I’d have to say Holy paladin, prot warrior, marks hunter last season (Season 7). But this season it could be anything, we still plan to push to the top once more.

WoWContender: What is the easiest setup or most enjoyable for your team to face? And what would be the hardiest to counter at the moment?

Jhazy: We prefer facing beast cleave the most, and the hardest is probably resto shaman, frost mage and destroy lock on Ring of Valor.

WoWContender: In terms of Arena gear what stats do you concentrate on the most? And what is the minimum needed to start doing Arena in your opinion?

Jhazy: I balance out my ap and crit with agility usually. I think you should start by getting full furious gear with the triumph badges at least and go from there.

WoWContender: So you prefer gemming agility over ap?

Jhazy: Right. I’d gem ap if you go beast mastery, but not if you’re marks or survival.

WoWContender: What amount of resilience should players aim for these days?

Jhazy: I currently use 802, I think anything above 800 for hunters makes them not very squishy.

WoWContender: Do you recommend using a mixture of pve and pvp gear or straight pvp for Arena?

Jhazy: Usually a small mixture of both. I use 5 pieces of pve including my death’s choice trinket.

WoWContender: Do you have a class that you really struggle against or are you pretty comfortable with them all?

Jhazy: I feel pretty safe vs them all.

WoWContender: Do you have any tips for players just starting out in Arena?

Jhazy: Improve yourself the most you can before you blame others.

WoWContender: Thankyou very much for your time Jhazy.

Jhazy: Sure. No problem.

Jhazy also did an interview with WoW.com recently. You can check it out here.