In the Hunter Forum on MMO-Champion, amonir wrote, “We are currently progressing here after killing Yor’sahj. We do it with 4 camps and are a bit behind on overall damage I’d say. Survival feels forgiving and more flexible but [...] MM might be better for its burst + free Hunters mark (for the ads). Any thoughts? (I’m in a group with a fellow hunter and a legendary caster).”
Highlights of the resulting discussion are recapped below. You can follow the ongoing thread in its entirety on the MMO-C Hunter Forum.
Namor of Muradin: I was a big proponent of MM early on in our progression; higher percentage of time spent in CA with all the add killing, and having Silencing Shot for the eyes is a nice bonus (they are casting when they squat down; the more you interrupt the easier the life of the healers). I now am running as SV in this fight for more total throughput, but MM is reasonable for this fight.
belgicanofl: Any spec is viable in this encounter, I’ve tried all 3. Survival wins in terms of dps at the end. Bm is nice in this fight because of the extra heals you can put on yourself, providing you [have] a spirit beast [...]. Also try to put 2 pts into hunter vs wild. It’s a lifesaver.
oettze: We’re doing 10m hc, imo MM is only viable if you can maintain ISS. Otherwise SV is superior, like most of the other encounters, where you have problems due to the mechanic to keep ISS up. BM is far behind dps wise because of target switching [...].
eschatological: Keep your pet on the boss no matter what spec you’re running, unless you’re for some reason specced into charge on a ferocity pet. [...] On the boss the pet does the increased damage per black phase.
I started doing this fight on MM, downed him for 2 or 3 weeks as MM, and it was all about being in position of your tentacles before black phase began (ranged bounce -> start moving/AotF-SS to keep up ISS and focus cap/get to your position as boss is absorbing the ball). Survival, like someone said, is a lot more forgiving, but if the other hunter in your group is also survival, going MM for the hunter’s mark to boost both your damage might be worth it and save one of you the GCD of putting up HM.
kalo: Make sure to interrupt the flails and you’re good to go. I’ve been playing all 3 specs here as well and have to agree that they’re all fine. If you keep dying, go bm for self-heal and increased healing taken. If you need more interrupts, go mm. If you need more dps, go sv. That’s about it.
Illana: BM would be pretty good for extra healing via spirit bond [...]. You can leave pet on boss full time and just range the adds with pretty much 0 loss. Just remember to stay in range of your pet or it will auto dismiss.
MrQ: I prefer SV. It’s much more forgiving and you can spec into Hunter vs Wild with 0 dps loss. [...]
TJ: [...] Try to use black arrow on the boss at all times instead of wasting it on an add where it loses ticks [...]
amonir: Got the kill tonight and I must say, dps isn’t really the problem here. It’s all about controlling that debuff. Enrage-wise we just lusted at 30 sec to enrage, took 5 bounces, and killed him a few seconds into the shadow phase. Love the fight tbh.
For a collection of Dragon Soul boss strategy guides, hunter tips, and hunter PoV videos see Dragon Soul: Boss Strategies and Videos for Hunters
