Esoth: Single/AoE Hunter spec balance

Esoth: The purpose of this analysis is to determine an appropriate talent strategy for Heroic Sha of Fear, in which there are a variable number of adds (initially none, then proceeding to spawn in incremental sets, up to 8). The goal is to get a general representation of of the strengths of each spec in degrees relative to other specs. My method was to use my spreadsheet in current gear to get these numbers although I admit that the AoE portion is a bit more crude. It really only models an “all out” DPS strategy in which you do as much AoE as possible. This doesn’t work well for BM which has a loss of return after getting Beast Cleave at 100% uptime. I’m not too concerned about this because it’s really a reflection of just how bad BM aoe is – you’d really want to execute a single target rotation except you occasionally use a multi-shot instead arcane shot. If AoE is expected at all, BM just won’t cut it – you’re better off trying to balance somewhere along the line of SV-aoe to BM-single, while SV-single to BM-aoe would be a line that runs perpendicular to it, so to speak.

SV aoe starts being better than single target SV or BM relatively quickly. If AoE is worthwhile, you’re probably better off with SV at a relatively low number of targets. But if the DPS check on a particular target is tight enough, you may be better off using a single target spec and letting others deal with the AoE. . . . read full article