Want to increase your DPS...look here first.

[Furnurgler]

OK there's been lots of questions about how to increase DPS. And alot of the time it's been the same answers. I'll go through some points here to help people out.

Now I've been a Surv hunter since early BC when my guild was raiding TK/SSC. I have raided as MM and BM before but most of my experience is in Surv. In saying that alot of the info below does go across all three specs. You can click on my armory link below to have a look at my setup and talents. My current build has me neck and neck on the meters with a similar geared ArP MM hunter.

If you want specific info on MM or BM hunters post it here. I can answer them as well but this is primarily about Surv hunter. And yes we can still outdo ArP geared MM hunters if you know your shit.

If you've come here then you want to improve your DPS. That's a great thing as you've taken the first step. This is by no menas the be all and end all of hunter info. Sites like Elitest Jerks are great for bleeding edge theorycrafting and info on hunters. I spend alot of time there getting info.

A good sandboxing site is www.femaledwarf.com. It's essentially the spreasheet online. If you have trouble trying to use it go here for instructions http://outdps.com/2009/08/11/how-to-use-the-online-dps-calculator/

Use it to see what talent/gear/chant/gem changes will do to your dps.

Gear

Expertise is not a hunter stat. Expertise deals with melee damage. If your doing alot of melee damage then your doing something wrong. If you roll on it against a Druid or Rogue and win it, and they get pissed at you this is why. Do not be a huntard and roll on expertise gear.

Leather gear is no longer good for Hunters. (It's ok as a stepping stone and while gearing up but if you are serious about doing damage then leave it for the rogues and druids) The reason for this is the Int. The careful aim talent will increase your attack power by 33% of your int. IT'S WORTH IT.

Make sure your gear is chanted with the best chant available.

Gem with Epics. They are dirt cheap and there are so many ways to get them. There is not excuse.

Mp5 is not something to gem or chant for.

You DO NOT need to go for the socket bonus. More often than not you will lose DPS trying to get them. +20 Agil is better than +10Agil/+15 Stam to pick up +8 AP in a bonus.

ArP for Surv Hunters is not a good talent. Over 50% of a Surv hunter damage is not effected by ArP (because it's magic damage which isn't effected by ArP).

Always look at what you can get from badges. Badges are easy to get. Get badges and get gear. You can even get 4pc t9 after a couple of weeks. There's no excuse.

Get your rep up for Ebon Blade and Sons of Hodir. They have the best
shoulder and head enchants in game.

As a general rule of thumb Agil is better than all for a Surv hunter. It's increases with talents and kings so stack it and stack it and stack it again. Of course there are exceptions. Get Massacre for a 2h weapon. Pick up the AP chant for your bracers. Pick up AP for your legs. You can grab Hit or Agil for your gloves, and for your boots you can grab icewalker or Agil.

Your meta gem should generally be the +21 Agil/+3 Increase Crit Damage. To meet your meta requirements all you need is the +10 all stats prismatic. It's a good idea to put that gem in your helm. Two reasons. When you swap your helm you can swap the gems over. Generally the socket bonus on your helm is better than all the other socket bonuses.

New Belt? Don't forget your belt buckle. Get that extra socket.

Remember for Surv hunters once your Hit Capped (264) stack Agil till you bleed it.

Talents

Here's a pretty standard build for a surv hunter:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cZ0eVooZx0ci0cIhedAhsd

There are alternates where you pick up 6 points in BM.
Start with this and move around talents accordingly. You can pick up FA if your not hit capped.

Glyphs

Must have glyphs for a Surv hunter are:

Explosive Shot
Serpent Sting

Then choose from:

Steady Shot
Kill Shot
Hawk (only pick up if your talented into it)

My personal preference is:

Serpent Sting
Kill Shot
Explosive Shot

Shot Rotation and Priority

Ok so what your shot rotation. It's basically how you start your shots out and kep firing them. Shot priority is the most important shots to fire off when they come off CD. This can mean waiting on lesser shots is a higher one is about to come off CD.

Shot Rotation

BA>ES>SrS>Aimed/Multi>Steady fit Kill Shot in there when the boss is below 20%

During LnL Procs use the following rotation ES>Aimed>ES>SrS or Steady>ES

Shot Priority

KS>BA>ES>Aimed/Multi>SrS>Steady

Try and use RF and Pet specials in conjunction with KC.

I'll add more when i get a chance.

Furn
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http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Aman%27Thul&n=Furnurgler

[Ryu007]

I'm pretty sure if people took the time to search the forums, they'd see that what you just posted has been posted before. Props though Furn for being the stand up guy and helping people out. We probably should keep replying on this post to keep it fresh so it stays at the top, OR they can make it a sticky thread. Either way, good job!

With that being said, I'd like to throw in my 2 cents:

For glyphs, I use Steady shot instead of serpent sting. I use a DOT timer to keep track of my sting, and I've found when BA, exp shot, and AS are on CD, I can pop one or sometimes 2 steady shots off to fill in the time. But that's my personal preference, and also my style of play, yours and everyone's style may be different.

That's all I have for now, if you're a new survivor hunter who just hit 80, I'd farm H ToC everyday as that place has nice shoulder, gloves, a 2 hander and a ranged weapon. The stats are nicer than anything in 25 Naxx, and it'd be a good stepping stone until you can farm heroics for tier gear, or get into 10/25 ToC!
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survivor 0/15/56
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Darkspear&n=Ichig%C3%B3

[Furnurgler]

I agree with you Ryu but people don't bother looking and alot of the info is out of date. There have been plenty of "Help my DPS" posts that could have been solved by people doing a bit of research so I thought I'd gather it together.

As you said it does come down to personnal preference but I find that the extended time on SrS means that i have one less GCD coming up sooner. Meaning I can do more Steadies. And the good old spreadsheet shows a DPS increase for me with SrS Glyph over Steady.

To everyone please post here if you have questions about improving your DPS. That way you can read what's above and if it's not answered hopefully it'll help other people out as well on one thread.

F
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http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Aman%27Thul&n=Furnurgler

[Shadè]

I always start my rotation off with ES then BA instead of BA then ES but thats just me.
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[Furnurgler]

The reason for BA straight off the bat is for the off chance of getting a LnL proc straight up. If you do ES first then BA and you get the LnL proc you have to wait for ES to come off CD.

F
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http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Aman%27Thul&n=Furnurgler

[Ryu007]

That's true, but I have noticed that I get LnL to proc more for me if I do ES before BA.
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survivor 0/15/56
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Darkspear&n=Ichig%C3%B3

[Furnurgler]

Just wondering how that can be when you need BA to proc LnL?
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http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Aman%27Thul&n=Furnurgler

[Ryu007]

I saw a thread on elistist jerks that talked about how casting BA before exp shot wasn't as useful. I'd have to survey their pages to find it again, but ever since, I've committed to exp. shot then BA.
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survivor 0/15/56
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Darkspear&n=Ichig%C3%B3

[Furnurgler]

There are a couple of other reasons for the BA before the ES.

Firstly I usually try and get my dots up on the target first for the damage modifier (+6% with BA and +3% with SrS).

Secondly, if I'm not doing the initial MD onto the MT then it prevents big threat build up. When it is time for me to MD to the MT I already have my damage modifiers up so any damage I do will be increased.

Lastly ( and something I only just read) while you are applying your BA and SrS all of your other damage modifiers are coming up (eg Sunders etc) so by the time your ready for ES and Aimed your damage will have increased.

F
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http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Aman%27Thul&n=Furnurgler

[Sweenytodd]

I picked my 2nd spec as survival for the dps and kept my bm spec due to me not wanting to get rid of my spirit beasts. For my survival i am currently using a cat. What would be the best type of pet for a survival hunter? Hope im not asking a stupid question. It seems i spend more time resing my cat than anything else
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Sweeny

[Ryu007]

Wolves are best for survivor due to Furious Howl now stacks with Might or battle shout. Any wolf works fine.

Furn, so you do BA then SrS before exp. shot? I never thought of that. It seems to go against all my shot priorities, but I'll give it a try. Thanks.
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survivor 0/15/56
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Darkspear&n=Ichig%C3%B3

[Furnurgler]

I have been playing with alternate shot rotations. Keep in mind that this is the initial shots were talking about. So really in essence were talking about 0.5% of a boss fight.
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http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Aman%27Thul&n=Furnurgler

[Gunny]

I would have to agree /w Furnurgler on the importance of getting the DOT's on the target priority 1 my reasons are the same of giving the tank a sec to get some tps (nothing kills DPS like needing to FD early in a fight) and maybe a proc of LnL or something else before i hit my major dmg dealers ...
thats just me though...
I havent been playing my hunter alot since the nerf in 3.0.1 as much as i had thought i would this xpak just here and there to keep him some what geared. Was happy to see he still can dish it out sitting at about 4.5K in 10 Mans and 3k in 5mans so hunters are still a force to recon /w

too bad LnL has a aweful cd but it did get a little buff this last patch I think not sure but i think it went from 30 sec to 22 sec or something like that

I heard of a addon called shotproc but i haven't used it yet it might help someone .. I'm not sure too LnL might post on recount or something anyhow you could try that too see what works best or should i say more often

just wanted to add my 2 cents

well back to my fury warriror.... peace!
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[Ryu007]

The LnL CD is going down from 30 secs to 22 secs in the upcoming patch (can't wait) along with Misdirect getting revamped: Multiple hunters will be able to MD at the same time, and instead of havin' a set number of shots you can MD, it will be the first 4 secs you begin generating threat (Great for blowing all your CDs at beginning of a boss fight imo).

I use Lock n' Load buddy to tell me when LnL procs for me.

Lastly, Furn, you were right it seems, tried that new beginning shot rotation and LnL is procing much more often and I'm seeing more deeps being pumped out. Thanks for pointing out a fatal flaw in my rotation.
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survivor 0/15/56
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Darkspear&n=Ichig%C3%B3

[Furnurgler]

Um......it has a 22 second cd now.
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http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Aman%27Thul&n=Furnurgler