Most of the DS fights require little movement, even for a ranged class. Your hunter's best bet would be to switch to Survival, it's far better than MM this tier and much more mobile for moments where you have to adjust positions.
MM has Aimed Shot (long cast time) instead of SV's Explosive Shot (instant). Those are the two signature shots. The only time AS is instant cast is when it procs, if you're not keeping up ISS and have to move a lot, the proc rate is going to go down considerably. MM is also the lowest hunter spec this tier, although if the OP is still progressing through regular heroics it doesn't matter too much
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A hard cast aim shot is only situationally viable, such as under dynamic haste effects or when your gear has enough haste to bring the cast time below 1.9 sec. Even in full heroic T12 (the last tier that MM was legitimately viable in a raid) hard casting aimed shot outside of haste buffs was controversial. In a heavy movement fight, you would NEVER hard cast a shot unless you had no choice (aka focus generation
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I'm not the greatest hunter by any stretch, but I follow my one friend's advice: If the fight requires movement, get really good at switching back and forth between Aspect of the Hawk (which is what is used most of the time) and Aspect of the Fox (which lets you move and cast things like Steady Shot/Cobra Shot at same time). Of course, I've only ever done LFR on my huntress, so I'm not sure if this applies to real raiding.
Aspect of the Fox should be a go-to for most fights that require significant movement for any hunter spec (I thought it was a little obvious which is why I failed to mention it in my own comment). Having a macro, or at least keybinding the two aspects, will make it easier to switch back and forth easily. If the hunter in question is already doing this, but is still failing to maintain decent DPS, I'd consider a spec change.
There are no fights in the current tier that require you to switch to Aspect of the Fox for any portion of the fight. You CAN switch back and forth on a couple of fights, but it's preferable (and easier, and better for your DPS) to learn the fights and plan ahead on positioning.
The best thing you can do as a hunter in PVE is learn the fight, learn where you NEED to move, and plan to position yourself in a place where you don't have to move very much.
I agree with selliebean: for the movement-intensive fights, use Aspect of the Fox (Aimed Shot will still require being in one place, but she could still use steady shot). I don't usually switch aspects in LFR (lag is so bad I'm afraid to move unless I absolutely have to), but being good at switching between the two would be a good idea.
This was something simple that was affecting my performance; does she know how to strafe? I was terrible about this before I started raiding. That plus aspect of the of fox will allow her to run and shoot.
I agree with the other commenters that a lot of DS fights are movement intensive and it gets worse with heroics. We have to run to get slimes, protect the gunship, stack/spread, etc. It takes practice and it will probably not happen overnight which makes me wonder how she's been handling dungeons (I feel like the 3 hour of twilight dungeons have some movement bosses) let alone a raid. It might not have to do with her class or spec but with her overall raid awareness. Is it just a dps dip or are the healers noticing her taking damage?
I'm in a small raiding guild that is plugging through heroics and I am usually the top or second dps as a survival hunter (used to be only BM). I don't really have trouble with movement fights. If her raid awareness is ok maybe a spec change?
I touched on this in another comment, but will reiterate for you here. The best way to deal with a movement-intensive fight is to plan ahead and have good raid awareness. There are very, very few fights that have ever REQUIRED you to swap aspects. The only one this entire expansion I can really think of is Atramedes and even then you could have gotten away with sitting in Hawk the entire fight if you were particularly good at avoiding fire. Aspect of the Fox is amazing in PvP but using it regularly in PvE is a crutch and I actively discourage people from doing this. Back in the day when we didn't have aspect of the shoot-while-run and we couldn't auto shot while moving, we had to stutter step to keep up the DPS. We managed to do it back then, we can do it now
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I can probably count on one hand how many times I used Aspect of the Fox this expansion. It all boils down to being aware of your position and knowledge of the fight's mechanics so you can predict and move accordingly. And especially right now, the three specs are almost as equal as they've ever been (Surv is tops, but MM and BM are doing great DPS right now at high DS ilevel), so if MM isn't her thing, she can pick whatever she wants at this point.
I've played and raided on a hunter since launch and I totally agree with all of this. Learning to orient and position yourself is extremely important. I still remember where "my spot" is for 40 man Onyxia :x That should tell you how important positioning is! Reduced (and now eliminated) range and AotF are things I had been so long without that I don't rely on them. I almost never use AotF. Truthfully, I usually forget it's even there in PVE. And I prefer PVP on my healers so there you go, I usually forget it altogether XD
I also agree about specs. Pick the one you're most comfortable with. I was BM then MM in vanilla, switched to BM for BC, switched to SV for Naxx, switched to MM for early Cata, SV for late Cata, etc. I always ended up feeling like I had to take the statistically highest DPS spec but it's not necessary. I also think you should at least try all three specs. You may end up liking one of the others more than you thought and it's definitely helpful to be competent with all of your specs and not just one.
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The best thing you can do as a hunter in PVE is learn the fight, learn where you NEED to move, and plan to position yourself in a place where you don't have to move very much.
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I agree with the other commenters that a lot of DS fights are movement intensive and it gets worse with heroics. We have to run to get slimes, protect the gunship, stack/spread, etc. It takes practice and it will probably not happen overnight which makes me wonder how she's been handling dungeons (I feel like the 3 hour of twilight dungeons have some movement bosses) let alone a raid. It might not have to do with her class or spec but with her overall raid awareness. Is it just a dps dip or are the healers noticing her taking damage?
I'm in a small raiding guild that is plugging through heroics and I am usually the top or second dps as a survival hunter (used to be only BM). I don't really have trouble with movement fights. If her raid awareness is ok maybe a spec change?
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I can probably count on one hand how many times I used Aspect of the Fox this expansion. It all boils down to being aware of your position and knowledge of the fight's mechanics so you can predict and move accordingly. And especially right now, the three specs are almost as equal as they've ever been (Surv is tops, but MM and BM are doing great DPS right now at high DS ilevel), so if MM isn't her thing, she can pick whatever she wants at this point.
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I also agree about specs. Pick the one you're most comfortable with. I was BM then MM in vanilla, switched to BM for BC, switched to SV for Naxx, switched to MM for early Cata, SV for late Cata, etc. I always ended up feeling like I had to take the statistically highest DPS spec but it's not necessary. I also think you should at least try all three specs. You may end up liking one of the others more than you thought and it's definitely helpful to be competent with all of your specs and not just one.
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