Warlocks or Hunters?

[Revith]

I haven't really been around for the 7.2.5 and 7.3 changes, so I was wondering how things stand with dps classes. I know I had a lot more success with hunters than warlocks previous to the changes, but believe warlocks have been buffed so don't know if that is still the case. Has anyone compared them lately or know how the changes affect that? Trying to figure what I'll be boxing for Argus. Thanks.

[UnknownsTM]

been boxing with hunters since legion started it all depends what you wanna do
hunters have alot more burst damage but warlocks had it alot easyer on my experience.

example

pve
on 5 bm hunters i could burst some bosses down on M+10 before certain mechanics kicked in but i had alot of problems keeping pets alive and heal myself
on 5 affli boss fights lastest a bit longer but there pets where alot better and tanky vs hunter pets and warlock healing was out of the roof they barely dropped in health

wpvp was a bit different

hunters burst but there survival was total zero
warlocks there damage was insane and they had so much survival felt like you had a extra toon healing them

according to patch notes 7.2.5 vs 7.3 didnt really change alot for both classes so its your own choice to go

[kalos72]

The thing I like about the hunters is the mobility in a fight.

If you have your BM pets doing a taunt rotation, do they still have problems staying alive at M+10?

[ebony]

i now have a mix of hunters and warlocks because some bosses that has ads that need to die fast could not be done with the locks i found. i find warlocks are more busty later in the fights, and hunters burst at the start so it works very well on my 10 team

[Ughmahedhurtz]

From what I've read, it hasn't really changed all that much. As ebony said, hunters are really good at quick, front-loaded burst, where warlocks are good at ramping damage once you get everything stacked up on the targets. So hunters would be better for trash and lower-level bosses, and locks would probably be better for bosses that take a long time to kill. And Unknowns is absolutely right -- being able to heal yourself while the DPS continues is no joke. Some fights are mechanically simple but just not doable on hunters due to the massive nerfs to Spirit Bond and Mend Pet. With the nerfs to Misdirect, the one really big advantage I liked about hunters (absolute control of aggro) is no different now than locks.

(Caveat: I haven't played in quite a while, so some specific changes might push the meter one way or the other depending on the fight.)

[ebony]

oh ya i forgot hunters are class cannons there worked as i wonted with the eye boss in EN there was noway i was going to do this boss with the low locks dmg on trash.

but hunters are glass cannons and will most likely die.

[Zartok]

Depends on what you want to do :)

I have been running 2x druids (tank/healer) + 3 hunters. I decided to level up hunters on the other accounts as well to do a 5-man team of hunters. For me I love to do some wpvp and beeing able to escape quickly out of combat is one factor for me. Shadowmeld / FD and camuflage is really nice tools for wpvp to do hit-n-runs

[MadMilitia]

Bit late chiming in here but maybe my input will help considering I did RSHM + PROTWAR + 3*BM for a few years in dungeon running. This is just my anecdotal over the years doing it.

PvE: Hunter can be very strong due to mobility. You shouldn't take too much damage with them if you keep them moving all the time. This is offset by all the utility you are leaving on the table if you took locks or shamans instead. Also, because I main a RSHM I found in the end hunter was just not the right option. Reason being the RSHM favors more stationary comps. I switched over to MW because it worked better with the hunters. Still, one misstep could end you.

PvP: Wow, Hunter is a horrible option for this. So mobility being a huge plus actually works against us multiboxers. In PvP you will be too busy to move the hunters around. For multiboxing PvP you want a very durable ball of death. DKs, Shamans, Locks are all superior options to a hunter ball with the lone exception of the opener. That's it though. In a real battle with give and take you want those extra heals and the utility. AF Locks can hit you without looking at you for most of what they do. Fears are an amazing CC that should always be used. A good combination of snares / fears and stuns are ideal. Demonic Gate is also great for your healer, especially shaman as people love to train shamans.

Incidentally for a long time I loathed my WLS because of all the changes to warriors. A lot of stuff I didn't like happened. So I abstained for most of Legion. I switched over to Unholy for a bit and prattled on with different class combos. Never really found something I liked. Hunters kinda died for me on mythics where movement was getting to me and the lack of heals made it difficult. I think the comp choices just didn't work well for me this expansion. Hopefully the next expansion addresses some of the glaring design problems.

[noamchomsky]

I realize this thread is over 6 months old and patches-nerfs-buffs have changed things, but I wanted to throw out this data for consideration.
http://www.noxxic.com/wow/dps-rankings/targets-1-ilvl-930-fight-real/

Depending on how much you trust Noxxic.com, warlocks are ranked #1 in dps and BM hunters are #23 out of 24.

[MiRai]

I realize this thread is over 6 months old and patches-nerfs-buffs have changed things, but I wanted to throw out this data for consideration.
http://www.noxxic.com/wow/dps-rankings/targets-1-ilvl-930-fight-real/

Depending on how much you trust Noxxic.com, warlocks are ranked #1 in dps and BM hunters are #23 out of 24.
Yes, but those numbers are based upon a simulation where a solo player would be expected to have a high item level and be executing their rotation in an efficient manner, all while standing still. Due to the nature of the multiboxing playstyle, simulation numbers are generally misleading, or just flat out wrong. I would tell anyone who looks at those to pick their classes to take those numbers will a giant grain of salt, and not to be disappointed when they find out that the rotation for the FotM class they chose was almost impossible to macro without a good bit of tedious micromanagement.