Hunter patch notes from Warlords beta

Below is a consolidated list of hunter changes from the Warlords of Draenor beta.

I will be updating this post every time new patch notes or major revelations from blue tweets are released (the latest updates will be in red). I’ll also bump it to the front of the blog when any major updates happen.

Last updated: August 22, 2014
Probably one of the final updates.

Hunter Changes — General

• Aspect of the Hawk has been removed. Its DPS benefit has been baked directly into abilities. Aspect of the Iron Hawk has been renamed to Iron Hawk and now just provides 10% reduced damage.
• Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack remain, but they are just regular abilities you can toggle instead of Aspects. They now share a 10-second cooldown.
• Dismiss pet now ignores line of sight. This will allow us to dismiss our pets when they get stuck in a place we can’t reach them (like the boxes in Spoils of Pandaria).
• Hunter pets now have a 1 second global cooldown.
• Explosive Trap now applies a DoT to all targets instead of being a ground-based effect.
• Mend Pet and Revive Pet are now the same button, and toggle based on the status of your pet (dead or alive).
• We will get a “Draenor Perk” every level from 91-99. This is a passive effect which is different for each spec. See the list of all perks at the bottom of this post.
• Misdirection now lasts for 8 seconds, up from 4.
• Growl now has a 30 yard range.
• Kill Shot heals you for 15% of your maximum health if you deal a killing blow with it.

• Beast Mastery: Mastery Attunement – You gain 5% more of the Mastery stat from all sources
• Marksmanship: Critical Strike Attunement – You gain 5% more of the Critical Strike stat from all sources
• Survival: Multistrike Attunement – You gain 5% more of the Multistrike stat from all sources

 

Stat Changes

• Hit and Expertise removed (like you didn’t know already). You will always have a 100% chance to hit.
• Agility no longer provides an increased chance to critically strike with ranged attacks or abilities.
• Hunters will have a 15% base chance to score a critical hit (without any crit rating). Classes which do not use agility only have a 5% base crit chance.
• Each point of Agility now grants 1 attack power instead of 2.
• Weapon Damage values on all weapons have been reduced by 20%.
• Attack Power now increases Weapon Damage at a rate of 1 DPS per 3.5 Attack Power (up from 1 DPS per 14 Attack Power).
• All base damage has been removed from spells.

Removed Abilities

• Aspect of the Hawk
• Cower (pet ability)
• Rabid (pet ability)
• Hunter’s Mark
• Lock and Load (see survival changes below)
• Lynx Rush (talent), being replaced with Stampede
• Rapid Recuperation
  
• Serpent Sting and Improved Serpent Sting (see survival changes)
• Widow Venom
• Scatter Shot
• Silencing Shot
• Scare Beast

Crowd Control Changes

• Hunter pets no longer have crowd-control abilities with a few exceptions (some pets have movement speed reduction only).
• Entrapment’s Root effect now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Root effects.
• Traps and trap launchers no longer have an arming time and can instantly trigger.
• Traps can no longer be disarmed.

Pet Changes

• Most pet crowd control abilities have been removed.
• Some buffs exclusive to exotic pets can now be used by non-exotics, such as heroism/bloodlust which can now also be cast by Nether Rays.
• Pets which lost CC abilities have gained raid buffs or debuffs in most cases.
• Some exotic pets received new special abilities on top of their buffs.
• 3 new pet families: Hydra, Riverbeast, and Hook Wasp (exotic)
• Several raid buffs provided by hunter pets have been turned into auras that automatically apply.
• Pets which provided Magic Vulnerability debuff now provide a 5% Multistrike buff.
• Pets which provided Physical Vulnerability debuff now provide a 3% Versatility buff.

To see a detailed list of the pet ability changes in Warlords, check out this post.

To see a detailed look at the new pet families, check out this post.

Survival Changes

Blizzard is trying to give survival hunters a clearer identity. Their damage will be less bursty than the other specs but they’ll be the only spec with powerful DoTs, powerful traps, and extra survivability through their dual camouflage perks.

• Black Arrow now naturally has a chance to cause the Lock and Load effect, and you are guaranteed at least one proc from each cast.
• Serpent Spread has been renamed Serpent Sting, and remains a passive for Survival Hunters. It causes Multi-Shot and Arcane Shot to also apply the Serpent Sting poison, which does instant and periodic damage.
• Kill Shot is no longer available to Survival Hunters.
• New passive: Survivalist – heals you for 15% of your max health over 10 sec when you kill an enemy. Also grants 10% increased multistrike chance.

To see a more detailed analysis of survival hunter changes, check out this post.

Marksmanship Changes

Blizzard is turning marksmanship into a slower paced, harder hitting spec to differentiate it from the spammy nature of the others. One of their most defining new perks is the ability to deal damage from farther away than any other spec (45 yards).

• Aimed Shot is now the sole focus dump for marksmanship hunters.
• Aimed Shot can now be cast while moving without a glyph.
• Aimed Shot no longer interrupts Auto Shot (they will still fire during casting).
  
• Thrill of the Hunt now also reduces the focus cost of Aimed Shot.
• Rapid Recuperation has been removed.
• Rapid Fire is now a marksmanship exclusive cooldown. It also activates Careful Aim for its duration, regardless of the target’s health.
  
• Chimaera Shot now hits up to 2 targets, and deals either frost or nature damage.

To see a more detailed analysis of marksmanship hunter changes, check out this post.

Beast Mastery Changes

Beast mastery has no significant rotational changes other than the removal of Serpent Sting and Rapid Fire. Their prowess with pets is being further emphasized through perks and new pet abilities.

To see a more detailed analysis of beast mastery hunter changes, check out this post.

Talent Changes

• Lynx Rush in the level 75 tier has been replaced with Stampede.
• Aspect of the Iron Hawk is now just Iron Hawk due to the removal of Aspect of the Hawk.
• A Murder of Crows has had its cost, damage, and cooldown all reduced by 50%. Additionally, the cooldown will instantly reset if a target dies while AMoC is ticking on it.
• Fervor has been removed. It has been replaced with Steady Focus. When you cast Steady Shot or Cobra Shot twice in a row (or Focusing Shot once), you gain 50% increased focus regen for 10 sec.
• Thrill of the Hunt now affects Aimed Shot and its chance to proc is based on the focus cost of the shot used. The greater the focus cost, the greater the chance to proc.
• New Level 100 Talent: Exotic Munitions – Allows you to modify your ranged weapon to use exotic munitions:
  • Incendiary Ammo
    Arms your ranged weapon with exotic ammunition that lasts for 1 hour. Each autoshot deals 20% additional weapon damage as Fire to all enemies within 8 yards of the initial target.
  • Poisoned Ammo
    Arms your ranged weapon with exotic ammunition that lasts for 1 hour. Each autoshot deals (200% of Attack power) additional Nature damage over 16 sec. When this effect is refreshed, the remaining damage will be added to the new effect.
  • Frozen Ammo
    Arms your ranged weapon with exotic ammunition that lasts for 1 hour. Each autoshot deals 40% additional weapon damage as Frost and reduces the target’s movement speed by 50% for 8 sec.Only one exotic munition can be active at one time.
• New Level 100 Talent: Focusing Shot – Carefully line up a shot at the target that deals 100% weapon damage and prepares focuses you, generating 50 Focus. Cannot be cast while moving. Replaces Steady Shot and Cobra Shot. Also triggers Steady Focus and Master Marksman for Marksmanship Hunters. 40 yd range, 3.00 sec cast, Requires Ranged Weapon
• New Level 100 Talent: Adaptation (beast mastery only) – Increases the effect of your pet’s Combat Experience to 70% increased damage. Your pet now gains the following abilities, regardless of its active spec: Spiked Collar, Roar of Sacrifice, Cornered, Boar’s Speed, Last Stand, Blood of the Rhino, Great Stamina.
• New Level 100 Talent: Lone Wolf (survival and marksmanship) – Increases all damage dealt by 30% when you don’t have a pet active. You will be able to choose one of 6 major raid buffs to bring in lieu of the pet buff (source). The following talents and abilities will not work for a Lone Wolf hunter: Master’s Call, Intimidation, Blink Strikes, Spirit Bond.

Draenor Perks

These are passive bonuses granted every second level from 92-98 and they vary by spec. You will get one of these randomly each level. By the time you hit 98 you will have them all, and at level 100 you will get your new talent.

Beast Mastery

• Enhanced Camouflage: You heal 3% of your maximum health every second while Camouflage is active.
• Improved Focus Fire: Focus Fire now also grants 2% increase to attack power per Frenzy stack consumed.
• Improved Beast Cleave: Your pet’s attacks strike nearby enemy targets for an additional 25% of damage done while Beast Cleave is active.
• Enhanced Basic Attacks: Your pet’s basic attacks have a 20% chance to reset the basic attack cooldown and make the next basic attack free.

Survival

• Enhanced Camouflage: You heal 3% of your maximum health every second while Camouflage is active.
• Empowered Explosive Shot: Increases the duration of Explosive Shot by 1 sec (1 more tick).
• Enhanced Traps: Reduces the cooldown of all traps by 50%.
• Enhanced Entrapment: The root effect of Entrapment now requires an additional 100% damage to break.

Marksmanship

• Enhanced Kill Shot: Kill Shot can now be used on targets with 35% or less health.
• Enhanced Camouflage: You heal 3% of your maximum health every second while Camouflage is active.
• Enhanced Aimed Shot: Your Aimed Shot crits grant you 20 focus.
• Improved Focus: Increase your maximum focus by 20.

That’s all for now, but stay tuned for more soon! You can view the massive patch notes in their entirety here.

Changelog:
– April 3, 2014 — First version of patch notes
– April 18, 2014 — First patch notes update from Blizzard
– April 30, 2014 — Updates from a Celestalon tweet
– May 9, 2014 — A couple minor updates regarding Focusing Shot and Lone Wolf.
– May 22, 2014 — Added new level 100 talent, bear trap, and more from new alpha build.
– May 29, 2014 — Kill Shot changes and new Survivalist passive added.
– June 13, 2014 — Patch notes update.
– July 20, 2014 — More updates
– August 22, 2014 — Should be one of the last major updates