Hunters!

[sicsid]

I have recently started a hunter team, and i must say.... HOLY PWNAGE!!! I went into AB last night, first at 21, just for the hell of it, then again at 25, and 4 levesl do make a difference. I was top kills and dmg, not twinked. I havent set up any specific pvp macros or anything yet, but handled myself pretty well. Anyone running a hunter team with some PvP tips? I have my hunters BM specced so I can solo instances right now.

[ElectronDF]

I have a hunter team and love them. Macros:
one for all shots rotation:
/cast [nopet] Call Pet
/stopmacro [target=focus-target, noexists]
/startattack [target=focus-target]
/petattack [target=focus-target]
(1)/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=13 Concussive Shot, Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, , , , , , , , , , ,
(2)/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=13 Hunter's Mark, Concussive Shot, Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, , , , , , , , ,
(3)/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=13 Scorpid Sting, Arcane Shot, Concussive Shot, Hunter's Mark, , , , , , , , ,
(4)/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=13 Arcane Shot, Serpent Sting, , Concussive Shot, , , , , , , ,
(5)/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=13 Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, , , Concussive Shot, Hunter's Mark, , , , , , , ,


The call pet helps when pets get despawned.
The stop is so it doesnt give me an error with no person to attack.
The startattack is to start melee in case the mobs come too close or already close.
The petattack has the focus-target in it so the pet doesnt wander off and attack whatever it wants.
The other chars castsequence have rotated shots so all help out incase of multiple mobs (notice it doesnt reset on mob do to conc shot cooldown).

That is my main attack button, but it gets expensive if there are a lot of mobs, since not a lot of mana and not much mana regen and too much power for what you need. Sometimes, autoshot works just fine. So:
/petattack [target=focus-target]
/cast [target=focus-target] !Auto Shot

Sometimes you want the pets to go in first, so use main one but add a combat option
(1)/castsequence [target=focus-target, combat] reset=13 Concussive Shot, Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, , , , , , , , , , , (only starts if you are in combat---pets start attacking)

Traps:
1 AOE stuff:
1 person puts down a slowing trap (frost) and 4 put down an explosive. It isnt so good against 1-2 people, but it works like hell against like 10 little mobs.
Put freezing (stoping, not slowing) on castsequence so you can mash button 1 time and move in a circle and then mash it again, and keep going. Eventually you end up with a trap circle that people cant get past.
(1)/castsequence reset=31 Freezing Trap, , , , , , , , , , ,, , , ,
(2)/castsequence reset=31 , Freezing Trap, , , , , , , , , , , ,
etc
I use one specific bag spot for food, so feeding becomes:
#show 4 5
/cast Feed Pet
/use 4 5

You can rotate imtimidation also.

I have Draenei for the heal over time, so I put that on sequence on one button and all heal main (gankers) on another button.
I started off with 2 ravagers (DPS), 1 wolf (howl), 1 bird (screech) and a boar (charge). But I moved onto 2 wolfs (1 placeholder), 1 bird, 1 hyena (placeholder) and 1 tallstrider. The hyena is cause it is the only white one. The wolf is cause I like the howl, but it doesnt stack. I will be moving onto 1 wolf, 1 bird, 1 wasp (armor reducion), 1 tallstrider and 1 fun pet, not sure what yet. Maybe I will work in one wolfs howl in a sequence, so it doesnt go off at the same time as the others.

Good luck and have fun pwning.

[Spynx]

I don't know for sure, but i've heard that Fear > boxing hunters in pvp, especially in the arena...

aoe fear from a warrior, then mabye a lock or SP, and i think you're pretty much fooked....

I could be wrong though, so would nice to see an imput from someone who's actually tried ;)

[Dopledin]

Just curious, I haven't played a hunter, what happens when someone uses fear if you are lying on the ground using feign death letting your pets beat on the attacker? Does feign death break and you go running off feared, or does fear get resisted/ignored, or are you feared not able to do anything but not running around... just lying there all scared with the comforter pulled over your head? =)

[magwo]

Beast within, other than that.. I think you're screwed. Lack of fear protection is why hunters will never be viable in arena.

[Boylston]

Lack of fear protection is why hunters will never be viable in arena.

This is a very bold statement, and probably wrong. Fact is-- hunters DO have not only fear protection, but immunity to all forms of CC for 18 seconds through BM spec. It's also on a relatively short cooldown. It is a very different mechanic than stacked tremor totems, but it is a significant ability. (Its cooldown gets even shorter with WotLK talents, too).

Two of the major fear-capable classes are cloth wearers, so it's reasonable to imagine a multiple number of arena strategies that revolve around taking out these squishy clothies first. Additionally, one can also imagine good use of disengage to avoid being hit with PBAoE fear effects as a team.

Finally, your definition of "viable" needs to be examined. I think it might be a totally fair statement to say that 4xHunter+Healer isn't as powerful as 4xShaman+Healer, but that doesn't mean that it's not "viable". Maybe shammies are capable of 2200 rating and Gladiator titles, but that doesn't mean that hunter teams that can sustain 1800 rating aren't viable. A better definition of viable might be "stuck below 1650 rating, even when geared and played well".

My hunters are *almost* 70, so I don't have any real experience yet. However, I know enough about running both setups so far to be able to see that there's certainly potential for hunter teams in arenas. They may never reach the pinnacle occupied by Shamans+Healer setups that a lot of us are familiar with, but I think it's way too soon to say they'd "never be viable" in arenas.

[Boylston]

It also wouldn't suprise me if Hunters shine in 3v3 more than shamans do in 3v3. Ellay and I disagree here, but I think there's significant potential in 3v3. 3 amped up pets on a druid, shaman, or priest healer is a pretty substantial threat without any hunter ranged dps tacked on.

[Mosg2]

I think that the 18 seconds of TBW is enough. If you can't kill someone in that amount of time with the damage bonus, you're never going to pull it off.

With Intimidationx4, Silithid Rootx4, Trapx4, and Scatter Shotx4 you should be able to kill anyone while their healer is CC'd.

[magwo]

Any team with half a brain will retreat out of LOS when you pop TBW.. pet dps is nothing for an S4 healer.

Once TBW is out, you will get destroyed I'm afraid. No focus protection with grounding totems, no shield against meelee, no fear protection left, crappy PBAOE damage with explo traps. Not to mention no purge, no poison cleansing totem.

[Sasha_Sandra]

Hi there, my name is Sasha and I have two hunters at 70.
THEY DO NOT OWN!!!

My druid recently got bit by a spider and his hand got really messed up. So I have been skirmishing with the two of them.

Sasha is perfectly geared for PvP. I ran a drain comp with my druid last season which did ok.
Sandra is PvE geared in blues and not really decked out. Although I did manage to get a nice gun for her from friends.

Right now hunters do not have any way of seriously shutting down their targets from moving. This is a huge problem since once your target runs out of LOS then its pretty much game over for any multiboxing hunter team. I am looking forward to the new pet changes for the additonal stuns, and considering specing BM for intimidate.(on both). The viability of Mutliboxing 2 hunters will come from Beastial Wrath. If they continue to allow it to be dispellable by rouges and other hunters, then the CC protection will be removed entirely and its all to easy for the opposing team to shut you down before you can start on the healer (or DPS).

I cannot see 2 hunters working well, if at any moment one of them gets CC'd. Usually this is the case on Live. I have had to trinket ASAP to regain control and keep pressure high.
Also on Live, hunters have no way to MITIGATE any damage they take. We have no ice block, nothing. We just die. We cannot get out of snares, and most of Live abilities create negligible range. Intercept and sprint and ShS easily trump our attempts. So if you guys are building a double hunter team I would strongly suggest using stuns, or Wyvern or double Scatter Shots so you can at least push out some pain.

NOTE:
Currently in Wotlk Beta rogues can disarm your hunters traps from outside flare range.
NOTE:
Currently in Wotlk Beta (and live) its possible for rogues to ShStep and get the first (stealth) attack off (rogues spam the attack they want) and they will not be uncovered by the flare in time which pretty much enables them to do whatever they want to you - dispite flares and traps.
NOTE:
Rogues "Dismantle" (disarms) will affect bows, and weapon chains will become mandatory.

Conclusion: Hunter + Hunter fails on live currenty because other players can easily LOS you and - your unable to heal yourself, CC them easily, or pump out enough damage or stun them for long enough to ensure a kill. Basically. Right now, we are broken and this probably wont work. Sure its fun but do not even expect 1500 or 1600 ratings. Its just not going to happen.

In future: The moment hunters can get some mitigation abilities (like the reworked Deterrence for Wotlk) and the moment we get stuns (like the pet stuns coming out soon) then it COULD be possible for hunters to team up and D-DPS in 2v2. However, for us multiboxers, if they allow beastial wrath to remain dispellable (by rogues and other hunters) then we lose our ability to ensure that we do not become CC'd during the critical moment when we have to burn the healer (or dps) through the stuns.

http://www.arenajunkies.com/showthread.php?t=42346

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On a side note: If my druid friends spider bite disfigures him for life, and hes unable to reach his previous reaction times...
We are considering double BM hunters and Resto Druid for 3v3. He would be in charge of cycloning and rooting the DPS while I focus on the healer. (or dps) depending on what we are doing and whom we are fighting. Its a long shot but in our situation this solution is a good one for us. We do not expect any awards or high ratings with this.

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5v5: In season one, the same druid, 4 hunters got action in 5v5.
We died, terribly. Even though we coordinated well and did our best. Its just not possible currently on live. Maybe things will change in Wotlk.
(We also used 2 Paladins and 3 hunters with better results but we still died more often then not)
Good luck trying this multiboxer style. Your hunters really need to be able to kite. Making this a huge challenge.

[thinus]

I am looking forward to the new pet changes for the additonal stuns, and considering specing BM for intimidate.(on both).

You are not specced BM?


The viability of Mutliboxing 2 hunters will come from Beastial Wrath.

Ok.


If they continue to allow it to be dispellable by rouges and other hunters, then the CC protection will be removed entirely and its all to easy for the opposing team to shut you down before you can start on the healer (or DPS).

er...whut? Dispelling rogues? Note to self: go check rogue trainer.

[Mosg2]

Any team with half a brain will retreat out of LOS when you pop TBW.. pet dps is nothing for an S4 healer.

Once TBW is out, you will get destroyed I'm afraid. No focus protection with grounding totems, no shield against meelee, no fear protection left, crappy PBAOE damage with explo traps. Not to mention no purge, no poison cleansing totem.

Sure they can retreat when you pop TBW... Unless you have 4x 4 second roots, 4x 3 second stuns, 4x Concussive Shots, and 4x Scatter shot macros to amp up a nice Aimed Shot x4. The classes that have AE fear are your first target anyway since they're the squishiest (minus warriors).

No, you don't have the survivability of 4x Shaman, but to say that it couldn't be competitive is just plain wrong. For 18 seconds, anyone within 41 yards is going to be raped plain and simple.

[Glord]

Sorry, it's been a while since I played a hunter (my hunter got rank 10 before BC ;)) - I know that the pet can stun, but how does a hunter root an opponent? Or are you referring to the ice trap?

[Dominian]

Counters to TBW

Iceblock
Vanish
Shield
Blessing of protection
Divine shield
Evasion
Metawhatever (that warlock demon talent)
Teleport (warlocks 80 spell)
Shadow bubble (41 point talent to s priests)
Pain Suppresion
Bear form
Spirit link (41 shaman resto talent)
F.Death will become annoying but i guess it can be fixed with a focus macro.

These are counters that works GOOD against TBW.

Pets are tauntable by challenging shout and this could ruin some matches but very few knows about it however (not when in TBW state i belive)

I realy do not belive its impossible with 4 hunters and a healer but its hard to say what healer that will be the right.

4 F.deaths sounds annoying!! :P

"hunter one down"
"hunter two down"

"Wait wtf aaarg FD"

FD screws over newbs ALOT..

If you got the skill 1800 shouldnt be impossible but 2k sounds impossible to me :)

4 flares makes it hard for rogues to get close.. another issue is mana i belive but im not THAT deep into hunters and have no idea how WOTLK will become!

But it would be fun if you could prove us wrong!!! :thumbsup:

[Vunpac]

If you got the skill 1800 shouldnt be impossible but 2k sounds impossible to me

4 flares makes it hard for rogues to get close.. another issue is mana i belive but im not THAT deep into hunters and have no idea how WOTLK will become!

I'm going to have to agree with you rthere I only have 1 70 hunter.. I'm currently working on 5 locks personally I think it's the best rout since with 15 dots on anyone gives me + 60% healing to my drain life + 5 deathcoils.. an so on but thats another story for another time.. as of right now.. I do awesome on my hunter in arenas but once I am oom the dps is just shit you can save some mana as long as it's not being burnt for the odd aimed shot or just use arcain shot when it pops avail but other then that your just sitting there shooting hitting for 500 a hit if not critting (depending on armor class) one if there are a few healers and they are able to run you dry your screwed.. and in 5v5 if you even get the chance of hitting 1800 it would just be downhill from there.. kinda sucks that way for hunters but in 5v5 we are better support then main anything imo..



ps.. my Grammar sucks :)

[Jaws5]

I see this again and again.

Hunters are not Shamy's

Hunters are best at AV AB and eye, (moving and defending)

i kmow the hunter better than another class (my dumb ass ranked 2 nunters to rank 14)

4 hunters and the right healer could kill well for 18 secs. dpending on what happens in that 18 secs.

I do not play arena . its not pvping to me it a dueling . i like 1 vs 1 and 40 vs 40.

using the cookie cutter shammy to me is not fun. I like to try new grps and see that that can do.

5 locks
5 druids
5 mages
5 hunters
5 priests

I guess i do not like easy . I take the hard path
:)

that makes it fun for me

[Ellay]

Very nice write up on here :)

With the new instant AImed Shot change Hunters burst and being able to drop a target should be a lot more effective now. I'm going to refrain from anymore arena speculation until someone out there gets real results.

[Ualaa]

Not sure on the challenging shout, but as a hunter, my pet is tauntable if it was on defensive/aggressive and attacked a target.
But if I specifically tell it to attack something (Pet Attack) it ignores taunts.

Have not tested the Challenging Shout thing.

[Faradyn]

I use one specific bag spot for food, so feeding becomes:
#show 4 5
/cast Feed Pet
/use 4 5

Why use a bag slot? Why not just name the food you feed your pet.

/cast feed pet

/use Clefthoof ribs (etc)

that way it doesn't matter what bag slot your food is in. I use this for my pets and it works great.

[FtGeno]

Sadly the damage from aimed shot has been nerfed to reflect its casting time. Blizz tries to compare it to multi in dmg but on ptr to me it feels more like arcane shot (perhaps a lil less). I've played Hunters in arena and I'm not gonna lie to you; they are the most difficult class of them all to play well in arenas due to los and lack of ways to make range. Kalgan himself admitted that hunters have to play harder than other classes to enjoy the same success. Blizz seems to be giving the class some attention but their efforts have not been fully effective yet as they appear to be trying to balance pve dps vs pvp effectiveness and it certainly isn't easy.

One of my biggest complaints is the new aspect of the viper (Blizz promised to change this). As it stands now your dmg is nerfed by a whopping 50% while in viper and mana is only returned through damage dealt with no passive component whatsoever... ugh. It'll work in bgs fairly well I imagine but in arena playing say, an outlast comp it just won't work.

Regarding ways to make range, disengage can help but it is too limited in that it cannot be used while stunned. However; you can try a 180 spin to get you moving again but alas this is useless against rogues and the almighty crippling poison and well timed skill coils by locks or DKs. Master's call was originally supposed to not only break stuns but also remove movement impairing effects but that has been nerfed into near uselessness. So rather than escaping Hunters are going to have to work more at controlling the flow of the fight with various CC abilities such as concussive shot, scatter shot, freezing trap, intimidation, freezing arrow etc;

I love hunters, I really do but they need some TLC to be as viable in arenas as other classes in my opinion. Don't let my doom and gloom discourage you though, just play, practice and have fun. There are some AWESOME hunters playing the game who seem to be able to beat anyone (Look for videos by Plops and Megatf for ideas), you just have to be prepared to play at your max every game. I am a competant hunter but I am nowhere near as good as Plops and Megatf but you could very well be. Best of luck bro, mark someone up for us. :thumbsup: