Comments on: Doctor Pike Is In: Fixing Your Hunter DPS

By: Feedreader Feast | WTB: Spellchecker

Feedreader Feast | WTB: Spellchecker — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:40:06 +0000

[...] Does your Hunter’s DPS seem a little … under the weather? Never fear, Dr. Pike will fix you right up! [...]

By: Echo

Echo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:44:12 +0000

Haha no worries. I feel the pain of gemming costs I just forked out around 800g for a complete regem for my guilds hardmode attempts. I think the hunter population of the server I’m on thinks I’m slightly crazy (550arp ftw)

When gems first came out I’ll admit I was the same, it was only the hatred of a certain rogue epeening meters that pushed me to do whatever it took to beat him ;p

By: Pike

Pike — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:31:57 +0000

@ Echo – Mp5 because I am super OCD for set bonuses and it was probably the cheapest gem on the AH at the time. AP because I am usually Beast Mastery, and AP tends to be better for Beast Mastery.

I wouldn’t advise scouring my Armory as an example for gems, I am a well known very bad example for that. =P I very frequently break my own rules.

By: Echo

Echo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:47:16 +0000

Just found this blog, very nicely put together.

I was reading this and nodding along until I had a quick peek at your armory. Mp5? AP gems?. Also to a poster above – I’d go straight for Shifting Twilight Opal instead of any of the +x Stats gems purely because it will almost always show a dps increase on any spreadsheet.

Of course once you start getting an almost full set of Ulduar Armor Pen actually becomes a really good stat to gem once you’re past a certain threshold.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:05:10 +0000

Thank you for this. My 80 hunter is only 1600 dps as a Beast Master with a cat, and I thought i was doing everything right so far. However, I’m currently using Glyph oh Hunters Mark, Glyph of Serpent Sting, and Glyph of Arcane Shot (useless). I’m also using Heart of Phoenix and Lick Your Wounds, and didn’t realize I was sacrificing DPS for them. I’m also not using Longevity in my spec. Thanks for all the good info.

By: Noah

Noah — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:02:00 +0000

Delta, sorry, I meant Enchanted Tear, not Siren’s Tear.

And while I’m here making an addendum I’ll also mention that the reason the AGI outstrips the benefits of INT/mp5 is that AGI scales very nicely with raid buffs, particularly Blessing of Kings. Hunters scale extremely well via buffs, it’s quite dramatic to see one’s DPS vary between raid buffed and not raid buffed. Your AGI is scaled off Combat Experience as well.

By: Noah

Noah — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:57:02 +0000

@Delta – The socket bonus depends really on whether it’d further compliment your gemming or not. You have to ask yourself whether you’d get more from another colour gem or the proper colour plus socket bonus.

Usually the socket bonus isn’t worth taking a sub-par gem for. I usually end up putting two +16 AGI gem in two slots, or I’ll go with a Siren’s Tear if there’s a Blue slot but the socket bonus is pretty good.

To your second question, the answer is yes. Crit will get you a lot more in DPS than the very small mana or mp5 you’d get from a single gem.

By: DeltaGeek

DeltaGeek — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:03:55 +0000

Regarding gems, Given that 3/3 Careful Aim removes the AP factor from gemming AGI vs INT, is it worth trying to match colors assuming a useful socket bonus?

Follow up question, assuming a worthless socket bonus, do the non-AP benefits of AGI (crit, armor, dodge) outweigh those of INT (mana, MP5)?

By: Pike

Pike — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:36:23 +0000

@ Oilcan – what Noah said!

By: Noah

Noah — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:57:31 +0000

Oilcan, the Serpent Sting glyph is vital for MM.
Chimera instantly deals 100 percent of SS’s damage and refreshes it. SS is a DoT, so the longer the duration the greater the damage. The glyph extends the duration thus increasing the damage done which equals more damage instantly caused by Chimera Shot.
As Chimera is our biggest damage shot, having the SS glyph makes it even bigger.