[Matticus Note: The Importance of Being Ernest. A 1500 word paper describing high British society and moral values that I need to do. Which is also due tonight at midnight. There is also a Canucks/Oilers game which I must watch. I doubt I get a lot of Hunters reading my blog, but in the event you have a Hunter alt, this might be the thing for you. This is another gear list which can be examined and use for Pre-Karazhan purposes.]
Gearing your Huntard… er… Hunter
By Doc Holiday
I am tired of seeing god awful hunters running around in god awful gear because they don’t know what gear and stats are useful for us. Lets start with the basics
Stats
Agility – It improves our Critical chance and Attack power. These are both good things
Critical strike – Improves Critical strike chance
Hit rating – Very important but pretty much ignored by hunters who don’t know what they are doing. 136 is our Hit rating cap. Having more then this wont help us out. So if your at this or close to hit you can stop looking for more hit. 89 hit rating for you surefooted hunters
Attack power – Increase your base damage
That’s the big four when it comes to stats we should look for
Intellect, Stamina and Mana per 5 are also good stats to have but not AS important as the ones noted above
Head
Malefactor’s Eyepatch
Easy to obtain via a series of Quests while your leveling in Blade’s Edge mountains. Huge amount of Agility, Stamina and Attack power as well as some nice mana per 5.
Stalker’s Helm of Second Sight
Longer and somewhat more difficult quest chain in Shadow moon will get you the best pre Kara Helm. I recommend 4 hit and 4 agility gems as it is hard to find some +hit early in the game
Neck
Choker of Bloodied Feathers
I got this in an early quest from Terrokar. I never found a replacement until Karazhan because quite frankly it is that good an item especially Alliance side
Insignia of the Mag’hari Hero
Horde side only quest. Great neck with a little bit of everything including some precious hit
Shoulders
Beast Lord Mantle
Quite frankly there is no other shoulder that is better or equal to Beast Lord. Run Steamvaults as many times as you can to get this. Socket it with a 4 hit 4 agility and 8 agility and you will be set for quite awhile
Back
Perfectly balanced Cape
You get this quite early on from a Blood furnace quest. Add 12 agility to this cape and you really won’t need anything else for quite awhile.
Delicate Green Poncho
Another great choice early on as well. Nice stats and that all important hit as well.
Chest
Felstalker Breastplate
Easy to make this makes a great started chest piece. Add two 8 agility and one 4 agility and 5 stamina gem and you got a large amount of agility on this chest piece.
Salvager’s Hauberk
Obtained from the lower city at revered. I like this chest a lot. Large amount of stamina and huge critical strike bonus make this a nice and really easy chest to get. Considering most hunters will have obtained this rep quite easily
Wrist
Felstalker Bracers
Easy to make and if your already wearing the other two pieces you get a nice set bonus
Auchenai Bracers
Nice reward from a simple Shadow Lab quest.
Gloves
Ar’tor’s Mainstay
No reason not to have these gloves a 70 hunter. Very easy to get
Belt
Felstalker Belt
Easy to make and a super nice set bonus makes an easier choice
Rune Engraved Belt
Alliance side quest only. Nice option if you are not a leatherworking or do not want to get the mats together for felstalkers. Large amount of hit is always good
Legs
Scaled Greaves of Patience
Probably the best pre 70 dungeon legs you can get. These come form Old Hillsbrad and will be easily obtainable at 70
Feet
Sky Hunter Swift Boots
Really nice boots from a fairly short and easy sub 70 dungeon Sethekk Halls. The only boots to get pre raiding in my opinion
Rings
Slayers Mark of the Redemption
Hit, agility and attack power in one easy quest makes this a must have.
Band Of Anguish
Hit, agility and attack power in one easy quest makes this a must have. Hey did I hear an echo?
Longstrider’s Loop
If you are lucky enough to get one of these in Mana tomb’s then hold on to it for awhile. It might be the best hunter ring pre raiding.
Trinkets
Hour Glass of the Unraveller
I know its in Black Morass and you hate that place but I can tell you will not find a better blue trinket in the game. To give you an example of its usefulness I use this on my hunter today and I just started doing Hyjal and the Black temple. Get it.
Abacus of Violent odds
Oh no another trinket at a tough end boss in a 70 dungeon. Great trinket with a great use. Haste will be your friend in the future
Weapon
Sonic Spear
The ONLY weapon a hunter should have pre raiding. Slap a 35 agility enchant on this baby and you set for a long long time. Trust me this thing is that good and while sucks you have to slog through shadow lab its worth it.
Ranged Weapon
Logn’goron Bow of the Torn Heart
Easy weapon to get via a quest in Shadow moon. Nice starter bow with all the right stats and it looks cool to boot!
Quiver
Worg Hide Quiver
Assuming you don’t have your epic one from the old quest you can get this exact replica by getting Honored with the Kurenai. Which is easy to do as you will get honored simply by doing quests in Nagrand anyways.
If you put it all together here is what you get
As a BM hunter (I am currently BM and I recommend this to all new hunters but more on that later) you will end up with
1800 Attack power self Buffed
20.9 Ranged Crit
57 hit rating
Now I added the following for socketing. Any red sockets I used 8 agility. Any Yellow sockets I used +4hit +4agility. Any blue sockets I used +4agility +6stamina. I enchanted the head with Glyph of ferocity, Shoulders with inscription of Vengeance, chest with +6 to stats, wrist with +24 to attack power, legs with cobrahide leg armour and put 35 Agility on the Sonic Spear. I left the gloves, boots and ranged weapon unenchanted. I felt the cost of enchanting those to be expensive for the time and use of the items.
Basically you are more then ready for Heroics or Karazhan at this point. You should also be able to out DPS everyone in 5 man dungeons quite easily.
Out of curiosity Doc, would this list work for Enh. Shamans?
No this would not be a good list for Enhancment Shamans as there are much better items available for them.
“I left the gloves, boots and ranged weapon unenchanted. I felt the cost of enchanting those to be expensive for the time and use of the items.”
I know where you are coming from.
However, the hands and feet have a very cheap augment: +8 Sta armor kits. These are usually free from guildies, as the mats are trivial to skinners; and boost both you and your pet.
Also for the bow, the Sniper Scope has fairly cheap mats (as long as you can get it made, not from the AH). I wouldn’t put anything more expensive on a blue bow. My Bow is Valanos, which meant I didn’t have to wait for the quest line, and has slightly higher dps than Lohn’, even after the Agi add – but I did have to buy it.
Valanos is really a good idea. I checked the AH on my server and there were 3 of them raning from 18 gold to 30 gold buyouts. A good investment. I used mine until I got my Sunfury Bow.
8Sta kits are a good idea
A sniper scope is a good cheap dps increase as well
Instead of the Worg Hide Quiver, I would suggest the knothide quiver….it’s 20 slots instead of 18 and still gives you the 15% ranged attack speed increase. It’s craftable by leatherowrkers
I’m new to 70 and i;m not sure what to gear… ive been trying to get the gear u have said and it looks all good, but people on my server say that you need a 120hit rateing for kara. with this gear u only get 57 i’m a bit confused if i will be ok for kara in this gear.
issy: You don’t “need” 120 hit rating for Kara. I think you might be hampering yourself a bit much. I asked the author of this column the same questions and he said that approximately 60 hit rating is the minimum a hunter needs in order to start Karazhan.
60 hit rating NEEDED for kara????? i have a partially geared hunter in mostly quest blues (also pre 70 quests) and 2 pieces of PvP epics and a single single PvE epic (neck so small stats :P)
I think i had a total of 16 hit rating the 1 time ive been to kara ( not wanted to go more as im PvPing atm…)
So id say REQUIREMENT for kara is Max 3 greens (this counts for ALL DPS) and lvl 70 and pre-quest done…, but if u want GOOD gear in kara get evrything here (ecept Wep Where u do 3-4 weeks 5v5 arena (10games a week with crap rated team, less for better team) for the S3 2h with PWNING stats (at least for the beginning) AND get the valanos as its VERY cheap 😀
and for gems/enchants, NO ench needed, “green” (rarity not color) is all that is needed 😛
In response to Bjorn…
All you NEED to walk in to Kara is to be 70 and have completed the quest chain for the key.
Obviously the other posters are talking about the recommended amounts in order to be more help than hindrance.
To all stupid stupid DPS classes – if you have attitude like our moron friend Bjorn, i boot on sight. Tanks and healers go through an enormous amount of effort to gear themselves to a point where they are of most help to the group…the least we expect from dps classes is to do their job DPS!!!!
Therefore invest at least a 10th of the time we invest into protecting your ass into getting the gear that will help us get through things quicker (save our mana or save us from dying).
And BJORN – I hope as all hell i never see you in any of my groups, cause i think i’d strangle you.
stand by for a wall of text.
I was reading through and figured I would drop in my plan. Keeping in mind this hunter is a draeni and planning to go aldor. I wanted to come up with a list of things I could get from questing, crafting, and the auction house. once or twice I used quests that involved instances, but not often. I am pretty sure this gear setup would work well, at least to get started into heroics/Kara. so here is my plans:
Head:
Stalkers helm of second sight (quest reward from a long chain in shadowmoon)
503 armor
31 agility
12 stamina
8 intellect
Blue socket (smooth dawnstone +8 crit)
Blue socket (smooth dawnstone +8 crit)
Blue socket (smooth dawnstone +8 crit)
Socket bonus +8 attack power (won’t get it with yellow gems)
60 attack power
4 Mp5
Enchantment: glyph of ferocity (34 attack power, 16 hit) (CE revered)
Neck:
Necklace of the deep (crafted)
21 agility
20 stamina
Red socket (delicate living ruby +8 agility)
Red socket (delicate living ruby +8 agility)
Socket bonus +3 hit rating
Shoulder:
Earthmender’s crimson spaulders (quest reward escape from coilskar cistern, shadowmoon)
441 armor
16 agility
12 stamina
8 intellect
60 attack power
Enchantment: Inscription of vengeance (26 attack power) (aldor honored)
Chest:
Breastplate of rapid striking (boe blue)
619 armor
40 agility
20 intellect
46 attack power
20 hit rating
Enchantment: exceptional stats (+6 to all stats)
Back:
Delicate green poncho (quest reward from bring me the egg in negrand)
66 armor
14 agility
19 stamina
28 attack power
14 hit rating
Enchantment: greater agility (+12 agility)
Wrist:
Felstalker bracers (crafted)
283 armor
18 agility
11 intellect
Blue socket (smooth dawnstone +8 crit)
Socket bonus +3 stamina (won’t get it using yellow gems)
38 attack power
Enchantment: assault (+24 attack power)
Hands:
Gauntlets of the redeemed vindicator (quest reward deathblow to the legion, netherstorm)
387 armor
23 agility
21 stamina
20 intellect
48 attack power
Enchantment: assault (+26 attack power)
Waist:
Rune engraved belt (quest reward from fel embers, shattered halls)
364 armor
25 agility
50 attack power
24 hit rating
Legs:
Sunfury leggards (quest reward from Varedis must be stopped in shadowmoon)
524 armor
25 agility
12 intellect
90 attack power
5 Mp5
Enchantment: cobrahide leg armor (40 attackpower, 10crit)
Feet:
Fleet refugees boots (quest reward from helping the lost find their way, terrorkar)
353 armor
18 agility
17 hit
36 attack power
Enchantment: dexterity (+12 agility)
Ring 1:
Delicate eternium ring (crafted)
25 agility
15 stamina
16 dodge rating
Ring 2:
Slayers mark of the redemption (quest reward from disention amongst the ranks, shadowmoon)
15 agility
10 hit
50 attack power
Trinket 1:
Bladefist’s Breadth (quest reward from overloard in hellfire)
29 crit rating
On use 200 attack power for 15 sec (2 min cooldown)
Trinket 2:
Terokkar tablet of precision (quest reward from Torgos in terokkar)
22 hit rating
On use 140 attack power 15 sec (90 second cooldown)
Bow:
Valanos longbow (boe blue)
66.4 dps
10 intellect
10 crit rating
22 attack power
Enchantment: stabilized eternium scope (+28 crit)
2 hander:
Crystalforged waraxe (boe blue)
50 stamina
27 crit
80 attack power
Enchantment: major agility (+35 agility)
This should give the following bonuses from gear:
Armor 3540
Agility 351
Stamina 155
Intellect 95
Attack power 758 (1109 including agility bonus – gear only)
Hit 126 (hit capped when figuring in +16 drenai racial)
Crit 136
Mp5 9
Dodge 16
Alrighty then, I got a bit bored at work =)
so I plugged all this gear into the sandbox on warcrafter and got the folloowing stats in return.
Not saying these are the minimum for kara, but that they can be pretty easy to get.
71 strength
500 agility
263 stamina
173 intellect
91 spirit
4558 armor
6017 health
5695 mana
1543 attack power
223.1 melee dps
309.1 ranged dps
126 hit rating (hit capped)
133 crit rating (21.97 percent crit)
and yes I run both a priest and a hunter, why do you ask =)
Girdle of Gale Force, found on the AH – 25g.
For glove enchant… assault. It’s like 10g worth of mats.. worth it even if you won’t have the item for long.
Yeah BS u do not need 60 hit rating for kara i have 37 right now and im full epics and 4 blues and ive gone into SSC/The Eye/Hyjal every tuesday and i am always top 5 for damage still and im BM hunter
ok im a 66bm hunter i will soon be 70 on account ive been lvling twice a week no matter the lvl.
My friend is a 70 bm hunter who thinks hes bad ass and he crits 3k he says..is this armor good with criting i really want to look good at 70 the weapon i will have are the 2 at champioons hall the two swords i already have the bgs marska and honorpoints for them
Please help me by messaging me
Beaver_live@yahoo.com
signed,
Beaverblood—Dunemaul
just curious what everyone was thinking about the Beast Lord set, I saw a mention of the mantle, but not the legs, not sure why that was left out, as indubiously you will see the legs drop 200 times before you see the mantle drop. I was comparing my gear to the stuff posted and I like much of what is posted but I have a few others, and when I compare the stats the BL pants seem better and a few other pieces are by choice……anyhow just curious as to why the BL set was left out.
Any feedback on the stalker chain armor set?? I have all four pieces and I am trying to compliment them to get ready for Kara runs but Im just not sure if these four pieces should be my starting point or if I should go with something else??
Correction 5 pieces. I know they are more of a pvp set but just wondering if they can be used for Kara purposes or if that is not the case.
Doc Holiday may not have been 100% rights as there are a few pieces you could exchange to do better or just as well….but he done a very nice forum on the Hunter class.
Of course now we can buy S2 gear with Honor points from BG’s that are a NICE help…such as the S2 shoulders and I suggest doing arena at least to get enough points for the 2H Axe (NIce Stats) and the S3 Helm.
Also the PVP Crossbow is almost as good as the Crossbow that drops off the first boos in Kara (Attunment)….so a little PVPing goes a VERY long way.
Also I agree with Asann that Hunters and/or any DPS class should at least do there homework and spen time gearing before going into kara! If you are with a Group thats all well geared and knows there stuff you could be a fresh 70 with crap gear and still get through, but if its a new group partially geared…YOUR SCREWED! Hunters also play a HUGE part in Kara and many other raids I.E. Kara (Trapping aka Crowd Control) and/or Mt. Hyjal (Kiting). It all depends on your group but either way you should at least have enough respect to put out good DPS and know the roles of your character. Practice trapping and kiting as much as you can…in the long run it will benifit you. As the Hunter class chief in my guild…we all watch new Hunters in Kara and raids to make sure there doing what there supposed to as any class at that….if you /fail you will not raid with us again until you have had time to improve. Its not fair to take someone who isnt interested in learning there class when you have plenty who do, only to get you cool looking gear. You must be a benifit to us all!
In ending this was a good thread….even if people disagree with certain aspects of it. He is close to right on ALL of it. Do as it says and you will do fine! Again, as I said earlier. Do your homework! Check out as many forum and hunter class web pages as you can and practice practice PRACTICE!!
Aceswild
P.S. If anyone has any questions about there Hunter please feel free to shoot me an email at alsipp@bellsouth.net I am not perfect but I know my stuff fairly well.
hey the hit cap is 142 for us hunterers
who dont have racial abilities i.e. trolls with bows and dwarfs with guns
anyway nice post 😀
im also writing a blog type thing
on hunters, its my main at the moment
http://fizzixbrainer.blogspot.com/
😀
edit: that doesnt look right hehe
i meant to say that if you aren’t a troll using a bow or a dwarf using a gun the hit cap is 142
This is the hit cap that is required for lv 73 mobs
so any bosses,
so i think 138 is for lv 70 stuff
but i guess if you arent hitting up bosses 138 is pretty sweet 🙂
kevlons last blog post..Crash course in hunter Raiding 😀
* Damage: 896 – 1049
* Attack Speed: 2.48
* Attack Power: 2600
* Hit Rating: 99
* Crit Chance: 23.71%
Aspect of the hawk + trueshot aura
70 NE hunter
Please where is this same thing for my lv 80 hunter and my priest I loved your list for my priest when i was 70 i was a healbot lol