Euripides and Frostheim were kidnapped this week, leaving Darkbrew and Alisaunder to battle Ustream shortouts, all while answering listener questions about stat scaling, newbie mistakes and BM’s rotation. Technical difficulties abounded on the Podcast, so I will do my best to present as full a recap as I can. The full link to the edited Podcast can always be found here.
Stat Scaling and Flintlocke’s Woodchucker
Way back in the Cataclysm beta, the blues mentioned something called stat scaling. In theory, it was supposed to work so that with each new tier of content, the amount of hit or crit rating required for 1% would go up. This idea has been scrapped for all intents and purposes. The amount of hit you need for Firelands remains the same as for last tier’s raids.
The Woodchucker pattern is now available live to engineers. That means, of course, you can now have one of your very own. If you haven’t heard, it has both a sound file of an angry squirrel and shoots a chicken. It’s awesome. On a local Auction House near you today!
Listener Q&A
- “We were able to use Deterrence while carrying flags in Warsong Gulch before, but now I’m not able to. Was this changed?”
Yes. Most abilities that gave a semblance of immunity while flag carrying were changed.
- “Would you go through the basics of the BM rotation?”
Darkbrew recommends starting with Serpent Sting. Then that would be followed by Bestial Wrath, Kill Command and the spamming of Arcane Shot. You should be able to get in two KC’s before Wrath fades. You’d reapply Serpent if necessary, and Cobra Shot to regain focus. Arcane Shot to dump focus and always cast KC when off cooldown. Rapid Fire should not be cast during Heroism/Time Warp, and Focus Fire when it glows on your action bar (thanks Blizz). Fervor when you’re low on focus; don’t save it for later. It should be used throughout the fight.
- “What are some newbie things you’ve done?”
Fearless host Darkbrew admits to having vendored Deathbringer’s Will once upon a time. For those hunters new to WoW, during Wrath of the Lich King, DBW was the best trinket in game for many, many classes and specs. Not only did it rarely drop, you’d have to roll against most of your raid. Fortunately, Darkbrew managed to get a GM to restore it for him.
Alisaunder began playing a hunter in Wrath, and so didn’t have as many stories to share. She did confess to running out of ammo. But really, back when hunters had to pay for every attack they made, running of of arrows or bullets was an easy thing to do.
- “Are melee attacks like Raptor’s Strike on a longer global cooldown than ranged attacks?”
Darkbrew was not sure. He hasn’t checked it out, but it is a possibility.
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You skipped Kill Shot in the BM priority up there. Also, BM hunters shouldn’t have Rapid Fire, Bestial Wrath, or Ancient Hysteria/Time Warp/Heroism/Bloodlust up at the same time. If you’re low on focus when Bestial Wrath comes off cooldown, use Fervor. During other times, the most optimal time to use Fervor is when both you and your pet are under 45 focus. Also, if your pet has five frenzy stacks when Bestial Wrath comes off cooldown, don’t activate Focus Fire. Leave the stacks on until Bestial Wrath ends because the higher attack speed during Bestial Wrath is higher dps than the focus and haste your pet and you would gain, respectively. I got this info from Elitist Jerks but didn’t want to just post a link to the entire BM guide when I could summarize the priority points right here.
According to Wowhead, Raptor Strike does have a 1.5 sec GCD. The other hunter spells with a 1.5 sec GCD in the order you can learn them are: Call Pet 1, Revive Pet, Dismiss Pet, Tame Beast, Wing Clip, Eagle Eye, Mend Pet, Call Pet 2, Immolation Trap (Trap Launcher), Freezing Trap (Trap Launcher), Scare Beast, Explosive Trap (Trap Launcher), Call Pet 3, Ice Trap (Trap Launcher), Trap Launcher, Call Pet 4, Snake Trap (Trap Launcher), Misdirection, Call Pet 5, and Camouflage.The only hunter talent to have a 1.5 sec GCD is Counterattack.
The hunter abilities with a 0 sec GCD in the order you can learn them are: Auto Shot, Track Beasts, Feed Pet, Aspect of the Hawk, Track Humanoids, Disengage, Aspect of the Cheetah, Track Undead, Track Hidden, Feign Death, Track Elementals, Track Demons, Track Giants, Track Dragonkin, Rapid Fire, Aspect of the Pack, Aspect of the Wild, Master’s Call, Aspect of the Fox, and Deterrence. The hunter specializations/talents with a 0 sec GCD from BM to SV in the order you can learn them are: Intimidation, Focus Fire, Bestial Wrath, and Silencing Shot.
The hunter abilities with a 1 sec GCD in the order that you learn them are: Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Concussive Shot, Beast Lore, Kill Command, Serpent Sting, Hunter’s Mark, Scatter Shot, Immolation Trap, Multi-Shot, Freezing Trap, Kill Shot, Tranquilizing Shot, Explosive Trap, Flare, Widow Venom, Ice Trap, Distracting Shot, Snake Trap, and Cobra Shot. The hunter specializations/talents with a 1 sec GCD from BM to SV in the order you can learn them are: Fervor, Aimed Shot, Readiness, Chimera Shot, Explosive Shot, Wyvern Sting, and Black Arrow.
The aspects are on a separate cooldown from all the other hunter abilities so they’re considered to have a 0 sec GCD. In reality, they have a 1 sec GCD with themselves I believe. I don’t believe that the tracking spells are on their own separate GCD. I also don’t think the trap spells have their own GCD either. I took all this info from Wowhead so if I got something wrong, don’t blame me!
Lastly, do you guys mind making a correction to the last Podcast because you made a mistake when answering the first question that I corrected in my comment on that previous podcast’s page on Wow Hunters Hall.
Wow, thank you for the extra info on the GCD and BM rotation, Harvoc. When this question came up in the Podcast, our wonderful hosts went into slightly more detail than I did here(after all, this is a recap). Your answer goes way more in-depth than I could go in the post, or indeed than the hosts went on the show itself. It was meant to give a rough idea of the rotation to the person asking the question, not a step-by-step guide to maximum DPS. That said, I did miss Kill Shot, and I will update that shortly here.
As to fixing the mistake on the last recap, I will go and look it over.
Finally, you have to remember that these are recaps; they don’t cover word-for-word what the hosts say. As an added caveat, the hosts are answering these questions off the tops of their heads. The answers won’t be in the depth they could be had the hosts had time to well-research the topics.
Thanks for the recap – you have some deaf fans that wonder what the heck you guys talk about on the podcasts. Now we know ;)