/flex
Khesed has made it to level 10. Upon gaining the level, he immediately went fishing!
I know, not very pvp oriented. But, it was something to do.
I chose the Beastmaster option, because it is OBVIOUSLY THE BEST HUNTER SPEC!
Sure people might disagree; but they’re wrong. You can go Marks and be a Mail Wearing Mage. But then again, you might as well reroll a clothie.
You can go SV (to be honest I do have a soft spot for them) and try to be some sort of Melee Hunter. But, please don’t. You just give the rest of us a bad name.
Ok, in ALL HONESTY, any spec is a good spec. I choose BM because I enjoy it.
Remember that concept? Enjoyment…
Yeah, I know. I’m a rebel. >.>
Eventually he made it to the Hunter Trainer.
I thought I would go over the “tools” that a level 10 Beastmaster Hunter has.
Starting from the top “F1-11″ keys, the abilities are:
F2. Raptor strike – Instant cast, 5 yd range.
An attack that instantly deals your normal weapon damage plus X.
F3. Kill Command – Instant cast, 100 yd range, 40 Focus.
Give the command to kill, causing your pet to instantly inflict X damage to its target.
F4. Intimidation – Instant cast, 100 yd range.
Command your pet to intimidate the target, causing a high amount of threat and stunning the target for 3 sec. Lasts 15 sec.
F6. Shadowmeld (Nelf Racial) – Instant cast.
Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon moving. Any threat is restored versus enemies still in combat upon cancellation of this effect.
Below those are my action bar. I have slots 2-6 filled.:
2. Auto Shot- 0.5 sec cast, 5-40 yd range.
Automatically shoots the target until canceled.
3. Serpent Sting - Instant cast, 5 – 40 yd. range, 25 Focus.
Causes (RAP * 0.4 + (X * 15 sec / 3)) Nature damage over 15 sec.
4. Arcane Shot – an instant shot that causes 15% of your RAP + X arcane damage.
5. Concussive Shot- instant cast, 40 yd range,Requires Ranged Weapon
Dazes the target, slowing movement speed by 50% for 6 sec.
6. Steady Shot – 1.5 sec cast, 40 yd range.
A steady shot that causes weapon damage plus [RAP * 0.1 + 251]. Generates 9 Focus.
Some of these are straight DPS abilities, and others have more utility.
One even has a dual use.
Ok, so let me break these down in my newbie manner.
Raptor Strike (RS), Arcane Shot (AS), and Kill Command (KC) are pretty much straight DPS abilities. Kill Command gives you the most bite (c wat i did thar?), and Arcane Shot gives you the most bang for your buck. Hit KC whenever it is off cool down, and spam AS. Knock those little mages on their tushies! Oh, and if you’re close enough to use RS; you’ve done something wrong.
Serpent Sting (SS) is a Damage Over Time (DoT) spell. While this gives some DPS, one of the great things about is how it keeps Rogues/Cat Druids from Stealthing, and it forces a Cleanse from Paladins (which annoys them in an ever so wonderful manner).
Now, our Crowd Control (cc) comes in a couple of forms. Granted, I (in my noobishness) would throw SS into this because it basically puts a control mechanism on stealthies. But, I don’t know if “real pvpers” would say that.
Along the lines of (dare I say pure?) cc, we have Concussive Shot (CS) and Intimidation. CS is pretty explanatory. It slows the target down. It’s an instant attack with no focus. Shoot it every time you think a target doesn’t have one. It allows us to Kite (run and shoot melee targets simultaneously, staying a safe distance) when we need to; and it slows Enemy Flag Carriers (EFCs) in Battle Grounds such as Warsong Gulch. We can use it to help our own Flag Carriers (FC) by slowing down enemy players trying to intercept them.
While our Intimidation is a PvE taunt; that doesn’t help in pvp. Instead, we love the 3 second stun. Interrupt a caster, make the warrior sweat it out as you nuke him down, give your pet an extra 3 seconds to rip the rogue an extra hole that he so desperately needs.
You can uses all of these abilities (and Auto Shot) while moving; so there isn’t much of a reason to stand around if you don’t have to. The only ability that requires you to be stationary right now is Steady Shot. While it does help us gain back focus, it isn’t that much of a help. Things move really fast in pvp, and I’ve heard it said that “burst damage” is king. If we are out of focus, unable to get an AS off; then the best thing to do is to CS (or Intimidation if it is off cool down) your target and get away… or look forward to waking up in the graveyard.
Now Go! Show them your Hunter-Awesomeness. Let them feel the wrath of your Kitteh and Bow/Gun/Crossbow/Whatever.
I think I’ll try to cover some pet options next time.
/danielson
Z
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P.s. I still want a reason to link Gnomeagedon and Cynwise. They are the PvP Masters. Please take their advice before you take mine.
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