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We all know how painful PUGs can be. The DPSer doing less damage than you could do naked; the retadins and mages that open up immediately and pull aggro on everything; the tanks that still degroup the instant you land in Oculus or can’t hold aggro on anything and ignore the mob eating the healer’s face off; and of course the foolish healers that don’t prioritize healing your pet above all else.

We talk a lot about optimizing our hunters for raids, and we’re going to continue to do so. However a lot of hunters don’t have raid access and are taking advantage of the new Dungeon Finder to run heroics until their feet are bloody and their gun barrels melt. So today we’re going to take some time to talk about the facets of doing good heroic DPS, and about being a good heroic group member in general.

So join me after the cut as we take a look at how your shot rotations change in heroics, examine mana conservation, and generally discuss how to be a good group member.

Understanding Your Job

Let’s start by being very clear, and a bit preachy, about your job in a heroic: you need to help your tank maintain aggro, keep your pet under control, protect your healer, and do good, quality DPS without pulling aggro yourself.

We all like to do lots of damage and top the damage meters. We’re a pure DPS class after all. We are death dealers and blowing things apart is what we do. But the goal of the heroic is to finish as quickly as possible without wiping. With decent gear the best ways to do the absolute highest damage involve pulling aggro constantly, pissing off the tanks, putting strain on the healer, risking wipes, and generally being the worst kind of PUG member. Don’t be that person. It’s not a raid and it’s not difficult, but it’s still a team effort.

Note that in all cases, if you pull aggro it is your fault. It is never the tank’s fault, no matter how incompetent they are. It is our job as DPSers to monitor our threat and adjust accordingly.

Furthermore keep in mind that while many of us are grinding the heroics to get our two Emblems of Frost each day, there are people in blues and greens who are there for the gear and the Emblems of Triumph. Don’t be angry with people who are poorly geared or just learning the fights. These heroics were designed for them after all, and they’re doing exactly what they should be doing to get geared up.

The Heroic Shot Rotation

All of the hunter shot rotations you read about are designed specifically for raid boss fights — and moreso the kind of fight where you sit in place for a long time and just shoot and shoot and shoot. Life is very different in heroics, especially these days where most of the group outgears the instances by massive amounts. Fifteen seconds is suddenly a long life expectancy for a mob, and it’s not uncommon for them to drop much faster. I’ve had mobs drop dead just at the sight of my group approaching.

This means that the heroic hunter needs to be aware of what he or she is facing and adjust shot priorities on the fly accordingly. There isn’t a single shot rotation that’s going to be right — the best priority system will change depending on not just the dungeon, but how well your group is doing. Here’s some basic shot priority tips:

* Misdirection: you should MD to your tank on every pull that you can. With the change to the way MD cooldown works, that will usually mean every other pull. Use Volley with your MD to get threat from all the mobs to your tank. On pulls where MD is not available, go a bit slower with your DPS.
* Hunter’s Mark: put it up on your first target of a trash pack while you’re running in, and certainly on bosses. Generally though it’s not going to be worth it to put Hunter’s Mark on any other trash. You won’t get the extra AP for long enough to make up for the loss of a global cooldown.
* Serpent Sting: I prefer to lead off with Serpent Sting on the first mob of a trash pack that I’m not AOEing mostly to give the tank a bit more time to establish aggro. But in general it’s not worth it to Serpent Sting mobs, even with the tier 9 set bonus. They die within a few ticks, and you could have done more damage using that GCD for any other shot. That said on the beefy mobs it can be worthwhile, or if your PUGs DPS is very low.
* Volley: this is going to be your most used and most damaging shot in heroics. Use volley any time there are three or more mobs. One of the nice advantages of Volley is that since it does less damage per target, you’re actually less likely to pull aggro from a good tank than if you single target shoot.
* Explosive Trap: you’re better off using Volley. This is not a part of your standard rotation and is used only in special circumstances.
* Multi-Shot: don’t forget to use Multi-Shot whenever there is more than one target up, unless you’re already volleying. In most cases you’ll want to Multi-Shot two targets and Volley three or more targets. Multi-Shotting three targets can also be just fine.
* Pet: honestly, I’m going to go ahead and risk the wrath of most of the world and suggest you just keep your pet on defensive for heroic runs. With the fast-paced environment it’s easiest to just let your pet take care of itself. As long as you’re shooting the right thing this shouldn’t cause you any problems. Also be sure the new Cower is on your cast bar. If you see your pet taking lots of damage Cower can usually keep it alive without having to waste a GCD on Mend Pet.

A good way to boost your damage meter numbers a bit is to keep track of the mobs’ health when volleying. Once the last couple mobs are about to go down, fire off a Kill Shot rather than finishing the Volley. It will inflate your meter numbers a bit, but realize that it’s not actually helping the group anymore than a couple auto shots would — it’s just making you look better.

Also, keep an eye on your healer. Both bad tanks and bad DPS can cause mobs to be on the loose (it is not always the tank’s fault). Regardless, if you see a mob loose fire a Freezing Arrow at your healer’s feet. I like to do this even if the loose mob isn’t on the healer yet, just to be safe. Your healer will love you for it, even though she probably doesn’t deserve it given how little she heals your pet.

Mana Management

With the pace of heroic runs these days, running out of mana can be a problem, and it’s easy to end up spending far too much time in Aspect of the Viper. Keep an eye out for mobs with a mana bar and preemptively use Viper Sting on them. Don’t wait until you’re low on mana, but do this throughout the instance and it’s possible you’ll never have to dip into Aspect of the Viper. Also be aware that some mobs with mana bars are immune to your Viper Sting. Mechanicals are particularly annoying this way.

Hunter Spec Breakdown

Every hunter spec can perform admirably in heroics, regardless of gear level. Here are a couple of notes specific to each spec:

* Marksman: MM is very strong in heroics with the increased damage from Volley and Multi-Shot. If you are an armor penetration hunter build, keep in mind that your ArP is going to be less useful in heroics than in raids. In general you cannot expect to have ArP debuffs on your targets. Arcane Shot should be back in your rotation for heroic runs.
* Survival: Black Arrow targets should be chosen carefully. You want this on targets that are going to stay alive for a while to maximize the chance of getting Lock & Load. In fact, you probably want to apply Black Arrow to a target that you aren’t DSPing when it comes to mob packs. Heroics also offer SV hunters a great opportunity to use their traps to force Lock & Load procs. Just remember that Explosive Shot, especially combined with Lock & Load, is a lot of burst damage. Make sure your tank has a strong threat lead on a target before you unload. If you pull aggro from your Lock & Load, it’s your fault, not the tank’s.
* Beast Mastery: don’t forget to use your Bestial Wrath at every opportunity unless the mobs are about to be dead. Don’t just save this for bosses. Also, with the great amount of AOE involed in heroics, you may well be better off bringing a Bear as your pet for the multi-target advantages of Swipe and Thunderstomp. Just spec your pet all in damage increasing talents rather than the typical defensive tenacity talents. Be aware that Thunderstomp causes a good amount of threat, but honestly if that’s enough to pull mobs off the tank, you have tank issues and probably want them on your pet instead of you. That said, a Wolf is probably still your best pet choice.

Of Meters and Metrics

Heroics are a horrible metric for your DPS. Your DPS will vary depending on what heroic you get, what classes you’re with, and how well they perform. Generally the better the DPS of the group, the lower your individual DPS will be. Expect your DPS to vary wildly, even between runs of the same instance.

However, we are a pure DPS class and we’re expected to hold up our end of the team. It is certainly possible to be doing too little DPS. In an attempt to set a baseline for the minimum DPS a hunter should ever do in a heroic I did two highly amusing tests*. First I ran UP heroic completely naked except for my gun and ammo. Then I went out and bought a set of green gear, level 76-80. I used no enchants, no gems, no scope, and no talents or glyphs. I ran UP heroic again. I think it’s safe to say no hunter should be doing DPS as low as I was in either of those runs.

* Naked Frostheim UP Heroic: 1,100 DPS overall. I spend about half my time in viper and was really, really squishy.
* Green No Talent Frostheim UP Heroic: 1,000 DPS overall. Didn’t go into viper nearly as much (hardly at all) and still did worse than naked. Talents are indeed more important than your gear.

As a ballpark, your overall heroic DPS should not be below 2,000 DPS, even if you’re in all blues. Once you get good gear, say ilvl 232 or so, you should expect to generally do over 5,000 DPS without alienating your group by pulling aggro constantly. And if there’s one thing that naked science has taught us, it’s to pay attention to your talents. They are more important than your gear!

*No PUGs were harmed while conducting these tests. Very understanding guildmates who are used to my antics kindly helped out.

This week we’re going to dive in headfirst and dig through the piles of boss loot and see what gear comes out on top. I should note right off the bat that we have no idea at all what kind of loot the Lich King himself is hoarding. I wouldn’t be surprised to find his loot is a higher iLevel than the rest of ICC, and likely what he has to offer will stomp the equivalent slot gear into a gooey gnome puddle. And no, he will not be dropping Frostmourne, though if he did I think we can all agree that a soul-devouring blade that corrupts and controls you is clearly a hunter weapon.

So join me after the cut as we take a look at Quel’delar, the Ashen Verdict rings, and everything else that drops in ICC worth looking at!

Quel’delar

We dwarves had a saying back in Khaz Modan, “You can batter your beer, but never your pet, and if you batter your hilt you’ll have no regrets.”

Quel’delar is the product of a quest chain starting with the hard to find Battered Hilt drop. The Battered Hilt can drop from any of the elite mobs in the ICC 5-man heroics. There are several versions of Quel’delar, but what we hunters care about is the 2-handed sword, and it is a lovely bit of craftsmanship for a lowly ilvl 251 item. She’s itemized perfectly for hunters: agility, crit, armor penetration, and attack power. The ArP in particular will make this weapon appealing for MM hunters even above many ilvl 264 items.

There are certainly 25-man weapons that stat out equivalent or better than Quel’delar, but I suspect that many hunters will be happy to carry this beauty all the way to the Lich King.

Ashen Band of Vengeance

The Ashen Verdict is the new reputation you can collect in ICC, and they’re not just going to send us to assault the stronghold of the Lich King without assistance. Oh no, they’re gonna give us a ring to help! Well, at least they will if they like us enough.

You get the Ashen Verdict ring for free once you hit friendly with the Ashen Verdict. You then get a free upgrade with every new reputation level. Here are the different Ashen Verdict rings:

* Friendly: Ashen Band of Vengeance
* Honored: Ashen Band of Greater Vengeance
* Revered: Ashen Band of Unmatched Vengeance
* Exalted: Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance

Your Ashen Band is a fantastic ring that gets particularly exciting at revered when the proc appears. The exalted ring is one that every hunter will be sporting eventually. The only possible downside of it is the lack of ArP for ArP stacking MM hunters, but even they will likely be using this. It’s safe to assume that this ring will absolutely be one of your ring slots. Note that it does have hit on it, so plan your gear accordingly.

Ranged Weapons

* Njordnar Bone Bow — Lady Deathwhisper 10-man
* Zod’s Repeating Longbow — Lady Deathwhisper 25-man
* Stakethrower – Queen Lanathel 10-man

Ranged weapons are a bit scarce in ICC and we can only assume the Lich King is hording the really good one, which would logically be a gun. If you’re the type that thinks an effective attack is hurling a wee chunk of tree out of a contraption of twig and twine, then you’ll be happy with the ascension of the bow in ICC. We have both a 10-man and 25-man bow dropping from Lady Deathwhisper, the second boss in the instance. Zod’s Repeating Longbow confused some with the proc, but suffice to say that it is a great weapon, for a bow, and the proc is indeed a good thing. Yes, you want it.

Alas for those that understand and appreciate finely crafted weapons of death, the Stakethrower is currently the only hunter gun in ICC, and in terms of numbers it’s substantially below Zod’s. However I think we can all agree that the sound of gunfire and clouds of smoke grant a benefit beyond the mere numbers on the weapon. As we also say back in Khaz Modan, “Frostheim will never kneel before Zod!”

Melee Weapons

It looks as though the best melee weapons in ICC are again gonna be the 2-handers. The 1-handers can come close, but in general they seem to be statted more for the melee classes, with excessive amounts of haste. While haste certainly helps us, it doesn’t boost our DPS as much as our other stats.

We have several very attractive 2-handers available to us depending on whether you’re looking for hit, or ArP, or both.

* Hersir’s Greatspear– Blood Princes 10-man
* Shaft of Glacial Ice — Rotface 10-man
* Distant Land — Festergut 25-man
* Bloodfall – Queen Lanathel 25-man

Hersir’s Greatsword wins the ArP competition by far coming in a bit more than Quel’delar and carrying some hit to boost as well as two sockets for more ArP, hit, or agility as needed. It’s massive AP will also make it particularly appealing to BM hunters who refuse to raid as anything else. The Shaft of Glacial Ice wins out in hit rating. Interestingly both of these are 10-man drops!

A final word on our melee options: if an actual melee class needs one of these, they should get priority over us. Yes, I know the weapons are great, but for us it’s just a stat stick; the melee folks will actually use the stats and the DPS. That said if you’re willing to let the melee have Zod’s Repeating Longbow before you, then I guess you can try to grab your melee weapon before them.

Head

I suspect most hunters will choose to go with the Ahn’kahar Blood Hunter’s Headpiece, but the 10 and 25 man raids each have an alternative.

* Taldron’s Short-Sighted Helm — Rotface 10-man
* Snowserpent Mail Helm — Marrowgar 25-man

Taldron’s will probably only be preferred by BM hunters for the additional AP. The Snowserpent helm is desirable for the hit rating. I’m sporting the Ahn’kahar head as my 2nd tier 10.

Neck

* Rimetooth Pendant — Sindragosa 10-man
* Sindragosa’s Collar — Sindragosa 25-man

I think these will be the necks of choice for most endgame hunters; however, if you’re looking for hit there are options that have hit at the expense of ArP. Interestingly the difference between these two is very small – the 10-man is darned near as good as the 25-man.

Shoulders

Honestly, just ignore the drops and buy your Ahn’kahar Blood Hunter’s Spaulders.

Back

You want the Recovered Scarlet Onslaught Cape purchasable with Emblems of Frost.

Chest

If you aren’t going for the Ahn’kahar Blood Hunter’s Tunic (which you probably are) we have some alternative options:

* Hauberk of a Thousand Cuts — Saurfang 10-man
* Carapace of Forgotten Kings — Festergut 25-man

The 10-man Hauberk is nice for its hit rating, but is abnormally low on agility and has no ArP. In 25-man the Carapace is your hit rating alternative to the tier 10 set. If you don’t need the hit and want ArP, you’ll prefer the tier 10 set piece (or more likely the tier 10 set).

Wrists

* Icecrown Rampart Bracers — Gunship 10-man
* Scourge Hunter’s Vambraces — Gunship 25-man

Slim pickings here, but this is it for the wrist slot so we gotta organize our gear around it.

Hands

Again, your Ahn’kahar Blood Hunter’s Handguards are your likely choice if you’re pursuing the 4-piece set bonus. But the tier 10 gloves don’t have any ArP. If you prefer to stack ArP in this slot, you’re best off with the Logsplitters purchasable with Emblems of Frost.

Waist

* Linked Scourge Vertebrae — Marrowgar 10-man
* Nerub’ar Stalker’s Cord – Festergut 25-man

Let’s not forget we have the Band of the Night Raven purchasable with Emblems of Frost, which is our best hit rating option. Nerub’ar Stalker’s Cord is the ArP belt of choice.

Legs

This is the tier 10 set slot that we’re most likely to use something other than our tier 10 set pieces, due to the lack of any ArP on our set legs.

* Legguards of the Twisted Dream — Valithria 10-man
* Leggings of the Northern Lights — Lady Deathwhisper 25-man

The 10-man legs here are stacked with hit and in my opinion Leggings of the Northern Lights is your best bet for ArP legs, and you can avoid the expense of crafting the near-equivalent craftable legs.

Also, hunters hanging on to their tier 9 set for the superior 2-piece set bonus will probably want to keep their tier 9.5 legs for this slot, since the Windrunner Legguards of Triumph have ArP.

Feet

* Taldron’s Long Neglected Boots — Festergut 10-man
* Treads of the Wasteland — Blood Princes 25-man

Treads of the Wasteland are only a choice if you need the hit on them. Otherwise if you’re a 10 or 25-man raider, you’ll very likely just want to purchase the Rock-Steady Treads, craftable with Primordial Saronite. Taldron’s do have more ArP, but the loss of agility and crit isn’t worth it.

Finger

We already know we’re using our Ashen Verdict ring for one of our finger slots. Here’s what we’re looking at for the other one.

* Saurfang’s Cold-Forged Band — Saurfang 10-man
* Seal of the Twilight Queen — Queen Lanathel 10-man
* Frostbrood Sapphire Ring — Valithria 25-man

On the 10-man front Saurfang’s ring will be the MM preference, while Seal of the Twilight Queen will likely be preferred by SV hunters. On the 25 front Frostbrood Sapphire Ring looks to be the ring of choice.

Trinket

* Whispering Fanged Skull — Lady Deathwhisper 10-man
* Deathbringer’s Will — Saurfang 25-man

And last of all we get to the always exciting trinket slot! These are both excellent trinkets that hunters of all specs will appreciate. Whispering Fanged Skull is better than Darkmoon Card: Greatness and depending on your gear, is probably about on par with the non-heroic Death’s Verdict. That said, I’d still prefer Death’s Verdict as it has better benefit when stacking with other cooldowns, but SV hunters passing 69% unbuffed crit will likely prefer Wispering Fanged Skull. However Death’s Verdict and Whispering Fanged Skull are a lovely combo that should both trigger at the same time, giving you the multiplicative advantage (the crit + the AP) without having to think about it.

For Deathbringer’s Will, it is certainly worth taking a moment to look at how it works.

From testing done by people with the trinket, it seems to have a 105 second internal cooldown, with a 30% proc chance. Possibly the cooldown is shorter (90 seconds seems like a more logical one) and the proc chance is lower. However we do know that the uptime on the trinket is close to 30%.

Each time it procs you will transform into one of three races: Vyrkul, Taunka, or Iron Dwarf. The transformation will last for 30 seconds and during that time you’ll get a buff specific to each race. The possible buffs for hunters are:

* 600 agility
* 600 crit rating
* 1,200 attack power

As you can see those are some fantastic stats, especially combined with the static 155 ArP that MM hunters will drool over. Other classes will get other stats that are good for them, so this trinket is great for just about every physical DPS class there is (and Blizz recently adjusted some of the stats for other classes to make it better) so there will be a lot of competition for this.

But yes, this is absolutely hunter loot and you want it so bad you’d even be willing to spare a gnome’s life if that’s what it took.