Cataclysm Guide v2.0 (4.0.6)Follow

Updates: I have updated MM to it's new best spec as well as some other information involving the rotation and such. Added Agile Shadowspirit Diamond to meta list. Also added some comments in the preparing to raid section under Aeth's quote.

FAQ: If you have any questions please take a look at the FAQ. Some questions will have you check back here for more in depth information.

Index:
Hunter Abilities/Focus Cost
Beast Master
Marksmanship
Survival
Armor/Gems
Enchants/Glyphs
Pets
Preparing to Raid/Theorycrafting
Additional Information


Hunter's Wiki Page

With 4.0.1 comes a huge overhaul to hunters. Mana has been replaced with focus. Focus is what pets have always been using and is very similar to energy used my druids and rogues. Hunters will have to learn to manage priorities to achieve the best possible dps.

Pets have also been overhauled. While they still maintain their types (cunning, ferocity, tenacity) they have had their abilities overhauled to provide essential buffs and debuffs to the hunter and raids. The damage has been somewhat normalized through all three types. While ferocity will still maintain and edge on dps and tenacity will still be great pets for tanking there will no longer be that one pet everyone takes to a raid.

With pets providing buffs similar to other class buffs look for hunters to be there to provide those if the raid composition is missing something. So be prepared to take out certain pets if your raid is going to be missing a buff or debuff.

Also World of Warcraft is going to a 41 point talent system. This means that each spec will have a 31 point tree. When you choose a spec you HAVE to put 31 points into that tree before you can move onto a different one. Each tree will have it's own mastery, passive trait, and spell.

New Hunter Abilities:
Cobra Shot (Level 81):
Deals weapon damage plus [ 6% of RAP + 950 ] in the form of Nature damage and increases the duration of your Serpent Sting on the target by 3 sec. ( Aspect of the Hawk : Generates 9 Focus. ) 5-35 yd range, 1.5 sec cast

Aspect of the Fox (Level 83):
The hunter takes on the aspects of a fox, increasing your focus regeneration by 20% and allows you to Auto-shot while moving. Instant, 1 sec cooldown

Camouflage (Level 85):
You camouflage, causing you and your Pet to blend into your surroundings. After 3 sec., you will enter a camouflaged state for 1 min, making you untargetable and providing stealth while stationary. While camouflaged, you and your pet’s movement speed is reduced by 30%, but the damage done by your next attack is increased by 15%.
You can lay traps while under the effect, but any damage done by you or your pet will cancel the effect. Cannot be cast while in combat. 45 Focus, Instant, 1 min cooldown

Widow Venom:
A venemous shot that reduces the effectiveness of any healing taken by 25% for 30 sec. Only one Venom per Hunter can be active on any one target. 30 Focus, 5-35 yd range, Instant

Focus Costs:
This is going to be a very simple, basic list of all the focus costs for hunters. While we are getting used to focus and their costs this list will be beneficial to see all the abilities together to try and get a better feel for the new rotations or priorities.

General:
Arcane Shot - 25 focus
Camouflage - 20 focus
Kill Command - 40 focus
Multi-Shot - 40 focus
Serpent Sting - 25 focus
Trap Launcher - 30 focus
Tranquilizing Shot - 35 focus
Widow Venom - 15 focus

Revive Pet - 35% of base focus
Scare Beast - 25 focus

Beast Mastery:
No spec specific focus requirements

Marksmanship:
Aimed Shot - 50 focus
Chimera Shot - 50 focus

Survival:
Black Arrow - 35 focus
Explosive Shot - 50 focus
Wyvern Sting - 35 focus

Steady Shot and Cobra Shot do not cost focus but instant give back 9 focus.

Edited, Feb 8th 2011 9:34am by Hyolith

This page will be focused around the Marksmanship Spec.

Spec Traits:
Spell: Aimed Shot - A powerful aimed shot that deals ranged damage plus RAP*.31+776.
Trait: Artisan Quiver - Ranged auto-attack damage increase by 15%.
Mastery: Wild Quiver - Grants a 14.4% chance for your ranged to attacks to also instantly fire an additional ranged shot for 100% normal damage. Each point in Mastery increases the chance by 1.8%.

Talent Preview:
Tier 1:
Go For the Throat: This is a decent talent, allows your pet to regen focus when you crit with you auto shot. Crit for MM isn't that high, but this talent is better than rapid killing to be able to move down the tree.
PvE: C
PvP:C

Efficiency: Reduces the focus cost of arcane, chimera, and explosive shot. This is a pretty good talent, reducing focus cost for shots is usually a good thing to have, it will allow you to better time your priority list.
PvE: B
PvP: B

Rapid Killing: This talent is really only good for leveling. There is a potential for this talent in end game if there are a lot of adds to deal with, but most people are concerned with bosses and not trash. So against a boss with no adds this talent doesn't do anything.
PvE: D
PvP: F

Tier 2:
Sic 'Em: Reducing focus cost for your pets. This will help them with some focus dumps. Allows for a bit extra damage.
PvE: C
PvP: C

Improved Steady Shot: MM should see a bit of steady shot. Even though right now it's looking like arcane shot is better than chimera. Throwing out 2 steadys for some focus regen should be done anyways, which will in turn proc this talent. Haste is going to be a major stat in Cataclysm
PvE: B
PvP: B

Careful Aim: This talent used to be above 60% health, now that it's 80% I don't know if it will be all that popular. You will probably need to pick it up to move on down the tree, but the time a boss will be from 100-80% usually won't be all that long.
PvE: C
PvP: C

Tier 3:
Silencing Shot: Very solid situational shot. Now that it doesn't do damage it won't be macroed to every shot. CC will probably be a bigger deal in Cataclysm than it is now and this should be a useful shot to have. In pvp this is an excellent shot to interrupt casting.
PvE: C
PvP: A

Concussive Barrage: Unless there is a lot of kiting to be done this talent doesn't do much in pve. This is a nice talent to pick up for pvp though.
PvE: D
PvP: A

Piercing Shots: Great talent to have. With the damage aimed shot has been doing the bleed effect will create a lot of extra damage. A must have.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Tier 4:
Bombardment: With the damage reduction of multi-shot this talent won't be as useful. It would be nice for dealing with trash but that's about it.
PvE: C
PvP: D

Trueshot Aura: Provides a 10% increase in attack power to all party or raid members. Unless changed, blood DK's Abomination's Might will override this spell.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Termination: This will be very helpful for the end of fights when trying to finish off a boss. The extra focus regen is always very useful.
PvE: B
PvP: B

Resistance is Futile: If this can be procced by the tank simply strafing the boss around and causing it to move this this will be a talent worth having, otherwise you might not get to see much use from it. This will definitely be a solid talent for pvp when your enemy tries to run away from you.
PvE: C
PvP: B

Tier 5:
Rapid Recuperation: Excellent talent rapid fire is used as often as it can. As I have stated before any focus regen is really great to have.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Master Marksman: This is a must have talent. At 5 stacks allows your aimed shot to be free and have no cast time.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Readiness: Instantly finishes cooldowns of all abilities. A must have talent to be able to use such things as rapid fire and kill shot for a second time immediately.
PvE: A+
PvP: A+

Tier 6:
Posthaste: Reduces the cooldown of rapid fire by 1/2 minutes. Great talent to have to get the most out of those abilities.
PvE: A
PvP: A

Marked for Death: This is kind of an interesting talent. As long as it doesn't override a glyphed Hunter's Mark application then this will be a nice talent to have to reapply HM.
PvE: C
PvP: C

Tier 7:
Chimera Shot: The final talent in the MM tree. It refreshes your serpent sting and also heals you for 5%. If the damage holds up to be useful this will be a very good shot to have. With the recent changes though, chimera shot has gone down in popularity.
PvE: B
PvP: B

Spec:
Leveling Build Hunter vs. Wild or Pathing: This is a good build if you would like to level up using the MM spec. It provides a little bit of CC with Concussive Barrage and some extra damage to those mobs that try to flee with Resistance is Futile. I did not grab Termination because mobs shouldn't be under 25% health for very long. At the end you also have the option of either using to get Hunter vs. Wild for some extra stamina or Pathing if you aren't having trouble staying a live. If you would like to see more details about this build you can check it out here.

Raiding Build (8/31/2): This is an optimal build for MM hunters. With the new patch coming it's been shown that you are getting more focus back from using non focus cost shots like Kill Shot where the focus given from Termination isn't worth it. Marked for Death has proven to be useful as it applies hunter's mark without needing to waste a GCD to apply it to another target when you switch targets such as during Halfus, Omni, or V+T.

It has also been shown that with the new cast time reduction to Aimed Shot that it's better to drop Serpent and Chimera, and maybe arcane from your rotation during Careful Aim (so the first 20% of the boss), and also hard cast Aimed Shot.

Rotation:
1. Apply Serpent Sting.
2. Fire Chimera Shot when available.
3. Fire! Aimed Shot only during Master Marksman procs.
4. Arcane Shot focus dump.
5. Steady Shot focus regen, but remember to use it in pairs to gain the Improved Steady Shot haste buff.

You really want to keep ISS up as much as possible. It'll be tricky to achieve so you'll have to work at it.

During Careful Aim:
1. Cast Aimed Shot, also use it during MMM procs.
2. Steady Shot

After that you can go back to the normal rotation.

Glyphs:
Prime:
Arcane Shot
Kill Shot
Steady Shot
With the new buff to Arcane Shot it will be a big focus dump for MM so it it used a lot.. Kill shot I believe will be the one glyph ever spec has. It allows for 2 instant Kill Shots on a 6 second cooldown. Steady Shot is the next best glyph after all of those.

Major:
Misdirection
Silencing Shot
Trap Launcher
There aren't too many glyphs that benefit MM. Misdirection I believe will be a glyph every spec uses. It allows you to instantly send some of your threat to your pet and immediately after send more towards the tank allowing you to be able to focus on dps rather than threat. You can get a bit of focus from Silencing Shot. Lastly, I picked trap launcher just because nothing else really fit. Less focus to throw out traps might be useful.

Minor:
Aspect of the Pack
Feign Death
Mend Pet
There isn't much to choose from, these are the exact same in all three specs. The others left don't really provide anything special.

Edited, Feb 8th 2011 9:18am by Hyolith

Armor:
Here is a list of the first tier of Cataclysm raiding. This is tier 11 as well as some other pieces that could be useful when reaching 85. The hunters set is called "Lightning-Charged." These are item level 359. These have been acquired from MMO-Champion.


Tier 11 Hunter:
Lightning-Charged Headguard
Lightning-Charged Tunic
Lightning-Charged Legguards
Lightning-Charged Gloves
Lightning-Charged Spaulders

Other item level 359 mail pieces that will surely be looked into are:
Moccasins of Verdurous Glooms - Feet
Viewless Wings - Cloak
Fluid Death - Trinket

Item level 349 pieces which can be obtained with Justice Points through Heroic Cataclysm dungeons:
Vest of the True Companion - Chest
Gloves of the Passing Night - Hands
Willow Mask - Head
Hillside Striders - Legs
Wrap of the Valley Glade - Shoulders
Belt of the Dim Forest - Waist
Amulet of Dull Dreaming - Neck

Also the gear for Arena Season 9/Rated Battlegrounds has been released. You can view those here.


Gemming:

Red:
Delicate Inferno Ruby
Delicate Carnelian

Yellow:
Fracture Amberjewel
Quick Amberjewel
Fractured Alicite
Quick Alicite

Blue:
Rigid Ocean Sapphire
Rigid Zephyrite

Green:
Lighning Dream Emerald
Sensei's Dream Emerald
Lightning Jasper
Sensei's Jasper

Orange:
Adept Ember Topaz
Deft Ember Topaz
Deadly Ember Topaz
Adept Hessonite
Deft Hessonite
Deadly Hessonite

Purple:
Glinting Demonseye
Glinting Nightstone

Prismatic:
Haven't seen any

Meta:
Agile Shadowspirit Diamond

Socket Bonuses:
If the socket bonus is agility, get it, otherwise it's not worth it unless the item has all red slots.

Edited, Feb 8th 2011 9:25am by Hyolith

Pets:
Malazee's Pet Usage and Flowcharts

Pet Specs:
Cunning Non BM:


Cunning BM:


Ferocity Non BM:


Ferocity BM:


Tenacity Non BM:


Tenacity BM:


New Pet Abilities
Here is a complete list of the new pet abilities data mined by the folks over at MMO Champion.

Utility Abilities
(Pets with a - E are exotic pets tamable only by Beast Mastery Hunters)

Bloodlust / Heroism
* Ancient Hysteria (Core Hound - E) - Increases melee, ranged, and spell casting speed by 30% for all party and raid members. Lasts 40 sec.
Allies receiving this effect will become Sated and be unable to benefit from Bloodlust or Time Warp again for 10 min. / Instant, 6 min cooldown

Healing
* Spirit Mend (Spirit Beast - E) - The Spirit Beast heals the currently friendly target for {1237.75+((RAP*0.35)*0.5)} plus an additional {475.97+((RAP*0.35)*0.335)} over 10 sec. / 25 yd range, Instant, 40 sec cooldown

Stamina Buff
* Qiraji Fortitude (Silithid - E) - Increases party and raid members' Stamina by 584.76. / Instant

Critical Strike Buff
* Furious Howl (Wolf / Dog) - The wolf lets out a furious howl, increasing the critical strike chance of all party and raid members by 5%. / Instant, 45 sec cooldown
* Terrifying Roar (Devilsaur - E) - The devilsaur lets out a terrifying roar, increasing the critical strike chance of all party and raid members by 5%. / Instant, 45 sec cooldown

Casting Speed Reduction
* Lava Breath (Core Hound - E) - Your pet breathes a double gout of molten lava at the target, reducing the target's casting speed by 25% for 10 sec. / 30 yd range, Instant, 8 sec cooldown (No longer deals damage)
* Spore Cloud (Sporebat) - Dusts nearby enemies with spores, reducing all enemy targets within 6 yards casting speed by 25% for 9 sec. / 6 yd range, Instant, 12 sec cooldown

Attack Speed Reduction
* Dust Cloud (Tallstrider) - Your tallstrider kicks up an obscuring cloud of dust, causing all enemies within 10 yards to have their melee and ranged attack speed reduced by 20% for 8 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 40 sec cooldown

Movement Speed Reduction
* Ankle Crack (Crocolisk) - Snap at the target's feet, reducing movement speed by 50% for 6 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown (Replaces Bad Attitude)
* Frost Breath (Chimera - E) - Your pet simultaneously breathes frost and lightning at an enemy target, slowing the target for 5 sec. / 30 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown (No longer deals damage)
* Time Warp (Warp Stalker) - Slows time around the enemy, reducing their movement speed by 50% for 6 sec. / 25 yd range, Instant, 15 sec cooldown

Healing Debuff
* Monstrous Bite (Devilsaur - E) - Your devilsaur ferociously bites the enemy, reducing the effectiveness of any healing received by 25% for 8 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 8 sec cooldown

Root
* Venom Web Spray (Silithid - E) - Sprays toxic webs at the target, preventing movement for 5 sec. / 30 yd range, Instant, 40 sec cooldown (Up from 4 sec, no longer deals damage)
* Web (Spider) - Encases the target in sticky webs, preventing movement for 5 sec. / 30 yd range, Instant, 40 sec cooldown

Silence / Interrupt
* Serenity Dust (Moth) - The moth's wings produce a cloud of dust that interrupts the enemies spell casting and preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 2 sec. / 25 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown

Armor Reduction (Sunder Armor)
* Tear Armor (Raptor) - Tears at the enemies armor with the raptors talons, reducing it by 4%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 6 sec cooldown
* Corrosive Spit (Serpent) - Spits poison at an enemy, corroding their armor, reducing it by 4%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec. / 30 yd range, Instant, 6 sec cooldown

Increased Bleed Damage
* Gore (Boar) - Your boar gores the enemy, causing it to take 30% additional damage from bleed effects for 15 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown
* Tendon Rip (Hyena) - Tears at an enemy's legs, increasing damage taken from bleed effects by 30% for 15 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldow

Increased Magic Damage
* Fire Breath (Dragonhawk) - Breathes Fire on the target, increasing magic damage taken by 8% for 45 sec. / 40 yd range, Channeled, 30 sec cooldown
* Lightning Breath (Wind Serpent) - Breathes lightning, increasing magic damage taken by 8% for 45 sec. / 40 yd range, Channeled, 30 sec cooldown

Increased Physical Damage
* Acid Spit (Worm - E) - Your worm spits acid, causing the enemy target to take an increased 4% physical damage for 25 sec. / 20 Focus, 30 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown
* Ravage (Ravager) - Violently attacks an enemy, causing the enemy target to take 4% increased physical damage for 25 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 15 sec cooldown

Stun
* Sonic Blast - Emits a piercing shriek, stunning the target for 2 sec. / 20 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown (No longer deals damage)
* Sting (Wasp) - Your wasp stings the target, stunning them for 2 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 45 sec cooldown

Physical Damage Reduction
* Demoralizing Roar (Bear) - The bear roars, reducing the physical damage caused by all enemies within yards by 10% for 15 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown

Disarm
* Clench (Scorpid) - The scorpid clenches the enemy's weapon with its talons, and disarming their main hand and ranged weapons for 10 sec. / 5 yd range, Instant, 1 min cooldown

DPS Abilities
* Bite - Bite the enemy, causing {187.74+((RAP*0.35)*0.40)} damage. / 25 Focus, 5 yd range, Instant, 3 sec cooldown
* Claw - Claw the enemy, causing {187.74+((RAP*0.35)*0.40)} damage. / 25 Focus, 5 yd range, Instant, 3 sec cooldown
* Smack - Smack the enemy, causing {187.74+((RAP*0.35)*0.40)} damage. / 25 Focus, 5 yd range, Instant, 3 sec cooldown

(MMO-Champ)

Pet FAQ:
What is the best pet in 4.0.1?
Frankly, there isn't one. It mostly depends on your preference. You will probably always choose a different pet whether you are soloing, raiding, pvping, etc...

What pet should I bring to a raid?
It depends on your raid composition. Check out Malazee's Pet Charts from Petopia. This will be extremely useful to determine what pet you should bring.

What is the best PVP pet in 4.0.1?
It all depends on what you and your teammates can provide. If you need a root or stun then you can bring a Silithid, Spider, or Wasp. If you need interrupts you can bring a Gorilla or Moth. If you need a healing debuff you can bring a Devilsaur. It just all depends on what you have and what you will need when deciding on a pet for pvp.

Will pets have their new special abilities in 4.0.1?
As I understand it yes they will. You can find a list of them here.

What are the difference between Cunning, Ferocity, and Tenacity pets?
Cunning: Cunning pets, like spiders, have a mix of offensive and defensive abilities and are particularly useful in Battlegrounds and Arenas.

Ferocity: Ferocious pets, like cats, can dish out damage but can't take it as well.

Tenacity: Tenacious pets, like turtles, are more defensive and can occupy an enemy's attention while you stay at range.

What is the best tanking pet?
It comes down to preference. You should definitely be using a tenacity pet as they have high stam and armor. Other than that it's pretty much take your pick. Each pet provides a unique ability that can benefit you one way or anything., such as a knock back from a Rhino, or interrupt from a Gorilla.

What is the best soloing pet?
Again it depends on you and your situation. The exotic Spirit Beasts can bring you some heals while soloing. Tenacity pets can tank for you. Pets can bring you different buffs or debuffs.

The pet I'm trying to tame is level 12 and I'm level 60. Will it stay at level 12?
No, when you tame a pet that is greater than 5 levels lower than you it will automatically level to be 5 levels below you. So your level 12 pet once you tame it will become level 55.

What is the best way to level a pet?
Simply by taking it anywhere that gives you experience. So taking pets to instances or questing is usually the best way to level a pet.

Edited, Dec 21st 2010 9:55am by Hyolith

Useful Links:
MMO-Champion
Wowhead
Elitist Jerks
WoW Insider
FemaleDwarf
Shandara's Spreadsheet
Rawr

Edited, Dec 21st 2010 10:25am by Hyolith

Thanks for the feedback.

I've been checking out your FAQ and trying to get some tips. A lot of the theorycrafting hasn't been done yet. So once Cataclysm hits I can get all that information. I do have your preparing to raid guide posted on my blog, well part of it at least so I can go check that out.

I'll definitely work on it today in a bit.

Alright, I'll take a look at that a bit later today. I'm in the process of trying to update some of the wiki ie. at least the talents section.

Because the wiki is all wonky to me. The talent pages are in tables which I don't understand how to make so I have been just copying the talent information from wowhead into those tables. Some spells aren't even around anymore but those are in the database and I don't know if I can delete those. Plus some spells and talents are brand new so they need to be added.

I'll get around to it eventually.

This is what the BM talent page currently looks like after I edited the table for the new talent system.

You can have a chart.

Thanks to the both of you. I know about what each pet does, silly Horse =P, it was more towards specs within each 'tree.'

I guess it would be pretty obvious... dps pets, pick up dps talents... but wasn't sure if maybe there were actual cookie cutters out there for each one.

Can't remember where I read it (maybe it was here... I've been trying to research a lot on hunters, specs, rotations, etc.) about Arcturis (the spirit bear in Grizzly Hills) being part of the Tenacity tree but is used for dps and not tanking? So it's just been confusing to me. I keep constantly thinking that he should be tanking for me... though he does put out some pretty decent dps like my ghost kitty does =)

Awesome thanks =)

And yeah, I was pretty sure Arcturis was in the tenacity tree,but I guess I was wrong lol.... Darn you bear and your weirdness!

Thanks a bunch again! I just picked up Gondria last night as well, so I'll have to get her specced up =)

Edited, Nov 4th 2010 8:45am by xNocturnalSunx

It's funny, because when I checked again while in game last night, sure enough... my spirit bear is fercity. Weirdness. Either way, thanks for those pet builds. I'll work on actually speccing them right soon.

Edited, Nov 5th 2010 9:24am by xNocturnalSunx