All posts by bendak

Hunter Patch Notes Update: Black Arrow dispel protection, talent changes

The official patch notes just received an update. Lots of hunter changes to report. Some of it we already know from the previous build, but there’s a few new bits in here.  If the tooltips don’t make sense, it’s because some of these changes are not in the build yet.

Survival Changes
  • Black Arrow‘s cooldown is reset if it’s dispelled.  🙂
  • Lock and Load has been reverted to the previous version. It’s similar to the live version, but you will get at least one proc per Black Arrow, with chances for additional procs on each tick. It also no longer has a 10 second internal cooldown.
  • Survivalist now increases multistrike damage by 20%. (Old: increases multistrike chance by 10%)

Yay! Black Arrow dispelling was something i was really concerned about, so I’m glad they added something.

While I was originally pretty excited for the Lock and Load multistrike proccing version, it ended up having several problems. When multistrike was low, it was extremely underwhelming (that is why they added the 10% baseline chance in the first place) and it was common to have Black Arrows with zero or just one proc.  When multistrike was high, the rotation devolved into nothing by Explosive Shot with hardly any focus available for Arcane Shot. Lastly, Lock and Load just didn’t feel as fun when it was no longer free or didn’t reset the cooldown. So, I’m on board with this.

Survivalist’s 20% multistrike damage is just there so survival will favor multistrike and benefit from its multistrike attunement.

Continue reading Hunter Patch Notes Update: Black Arrow dispel protection, talent changes

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Iron Skyreaver Giveaway (and bonus prizes!)

Update: Giveaway closed. Winners announced!


I wanted to give a little something back to all my awesome readers. Thanks for reading my ramblings about hunters, commenting, retweeting, emailing me with support, and generally being awesome hunters. The site is only 6 months old and I’m in awe at all the support in such a short time.

If you don’t yet have an Iron Skyreaver mount and want one to match your new rylak pet in Warlords, keep reading because I’m giving one away to a lucky hunter. Yes, hunters only!

There will also be 3 bonus prizes for my top 3 favorite screenshots! Each of those winners will get a WoW TCG item, the Paper Flying Machine Kit. It’s an infinitely reusable item that generates paper gyrocopters you can throw to your friends, and it’ll count as a toy for your Toybox in Warlords.

To enter this giveaway, you’re going to need to take a screenshot. When all is said and done, I’ll be compiling all the screenshots into a big Eyes of the Beast hunter gallery for everyone to enjoy.

Update: Loving all the screenshots so far! This will be a cool gallery when it’s all said and done.

Continue reading Iron Skyreaver Giveaway (and bonus prizes!)

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Seriously? Changes on the way for talents and Lock and Load

I could have changed a few things in the large feedback post I published just a couple of hours ago if I would have known this was coming, but Celestalon and his impeccable timing posted this update for hunters about an hour afterwards. Thanks, Celestalon!

At least my post wasn’t all for naught. These announced changes are definite improvements in several areas but still leaves a lot of the marksmanship problems unanswered. Here we go…

Continue reading Seriously? Changes on the way for talents and Lock and Load

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Another expansion of BM? The state of the hunter in Warlords

There’s a problem with survival and marksmanship on the beta right now: no one seems to be happy with the two specs. I know that may sound a little hyperbolic, but I’ve looked for positive feedback all over the place — blogs, twitter, forums, even in game — and I struggle to find any.

Beast mastery is an example of successful ability pruning. Serpent Sting gone? Fantastic. It added no complexity to the gameplay, you either kept it on or kept it off. Rapid Fire removed? I accept its loss as part of the overall cooldown/burst damage reductions, and we still have Bestial Wrath. Beast mastery still has great synergy with the pet and all of the passives that work so well in the background.

Before we start, I want to go on the record that I spent a good deal of time looking for some positive feedback on these specs to give this article some balance. I simply couldn’t find anyone who was like, “I’m happy with the direction MM and/or SV is taking in Warlords!” If you are one of these people, please speak up. I think the forums could use some balanced discussion. I did find this one person who liked the spec differentiation, but mentioned MM not being as fun to play.

Continue reading Another expansion of BM? The state of the hunter in Warlords

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New hunter pet families in Warlords of Draenor

Warlords of Draenor is introducing five new hunter pet families, bringing the grand total to 48 different families. It’s kind of disturbing to think that we barely have enough stable slots to house one pet from each family. Many families will remain unrepresented in my stables unfortunately (WTB more stable slots), but these five new families will not be among the excluded.

One of the new families (Clefthooves) is a rename of an existing one to incorporate some new beasts, but the other four are brand new.

  • Hydras
  • Clefthooves (Exotic) — formerly known as Rhino
  • Riverbeasts
  • Stags
  • Rylaks (Exotic)

First things first, you can check out the below video I made previewing the new families.  I picked a handful of pets from each family to show off. It is by no means an exhaustive list, if it was I would have never finished the video.  I recommend fullscreen 1080p for this one. Lots of cool scenery! Enjoy.

Continue reading New hunter pet families in Warlords of Draenor

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WoD Beta 18764: Hunter number tuning, round 2

Updated with a Thrill of the Hunt change coming in a future build (bottom of post).

Not much to report regarding hunters in this build, just some small number tuning and a few other tidbits.

  • Arcane Shot (BM/SV) now deals 100% weapon damage (down from 114%)
  • Aimed Shot (MM) now deals 350% weapon damage (down from 385%)
  • Explosive Shot (SV) now deals 42% attack power damage per tick (down from 46%)
  • Serpent Sting (SV) now deals 175% attack power damage over 15 sec (down from 225%)
  • Cobra Strikes (BM) now has a 20% chance per Arcane Shot to grant 1 charge of Cobra Strikes, causing your pet’s next basic attack to crit (Old: 15% chance to grant 2 charges)
  • Enhanced Basic Attacks (BM perk) now has a 15% chance to reset the basic attack cooldown and make the next one free (down from 20%)

Continue reading WoD Beta 18764: Hunter number tuning, round 2

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Hunter Transmog: Outrunner’s Mail

I saw this one posted on Twitter by @ikralla and thought it looked nice for a Pandaren hunter transmog. He kindly provided me with some screenshots and an item list so I can share it with you. I’m more into the bulkier armor, but a lot of people like these more minimalist transmogs I’ve discovered. Also, it uses one of my top 5 favorite bows.

All of these items (except the bow) are BoE pieces you’ll need to find on the auction house.

Helm: n/a
Shoulder: Grunt’s Pauldrons
Chest: Outrunner’s Chestguard
Shirt: n/a
Gloves: Outrunner’s Gloves
Belt: Outrunner’s Cord
Legs: Outrunner’s Legguards
Feet: Outrunner’s Slippers
Weapon: Crypt Fiend Slayer

I’ve put this set together in a Wowhead item comparison so you can quickly view it on other races in 3D (click the little triangle above the item icons).

The featured pet is Quall, a rare bird of prey in Stonetalon Mountains.

Continue reading Hunter Transmog: Outrunner’s Mail

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WoD Beta 18738: First pass at hunter number tuning

The first round of beta number tuning is in. Beast mastery is nerfed, survival is buffed, and marksmanship is sort of buffed. There’s very little else going on hunter-wise. No new abilities, mechanics, glyphs, pet changes, or anything else I can see. 😕 I was kind of hoping for more. I really don’t like the prospect of SV and MM going live as-is (mechanically).

Beast Mastery
  • Kill Command now deals 240% of attack power damage (down from 283%)
  • Cobra Shot now deals 60% weapon damage(up from 42%)

Continue reading WoD Beta 18738: First pass at hunter number tuning

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Sunday Catch Up: WoD release date, hunter spell effects, and other stuff

November 13, 2014. Only 10 days away from the actual 10-year anniversary. I like the date. It’ll add an extra level of excitement to the BlizzCon festivities since they’re so close together.  I’ll be killing Iron Horde at the Dark Portal and the revamped UBRS on one screen, with the BlizzCon livestream on the other.

The only thing I don’t like is that it’s a mere 5 days away from the release date of Dragon Age Inquisition, a game I am very excited to play. Sorry, Dragon Age, you’re going to have to be put on the backburner for a while.

There’s some other bits and bobs I wanted to mention. Small stuff I didn’t think was deserving of its own post, so I’ll cram them in here. 🙂

Continue reading Sunday Catch Up: WoD release date, hunter spell effects, and other stuff

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Pet of the Week: Boar Spirit (get this one before 6.0) UPDATED

This week we’re taking a little break from new Warlords of Draenor pets for a PSA on the Boar Spirit. This ghostly armored boar seems to be disappearing completely in patch 6.0. If you’ve ever wanted  this particular boar, or are just a pet collector and can’t stand to not own something that will no longer be obtainable, you’ll want to get this one soon.

It’s found in the Razorfen Kraul dungeon, which is getting revamped for Warlords. The boss that summons Boar Spirits is no longer a proper boss in 6.0 (although he does still exist in the dungeon in another form). Since it’s part of the old world, this changeover will most likely take place in the 6.0 pre-expansion patch.

On live servers, Boar Spirits are summoned by Aggem Thorncurse. Don’t kill him immediately, wait until he spawns one for you. I’d also advise taking off your legendary cloak or anything that could inadvertently kill stuff.

Continue reading Pet of the Week: Boar Spirit (get this one before 6.0) UPDATED

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