Monday, July 21, 2008

So You Want to Play a Hunter? Part 3

So you've hit level 6 and you've got Arcane Shot. Great! This will make it easier for you to kill stuff before it gets to you. Now there seems to be some confusion, I think, involving when to use Arcane Shot. In all honesty, I don't think there is a set "best rotation" for Arcane Shot in the low-levels. But the basics that you want to know is that you don't want to use it too much, because it will eat up your mana and pull aggro away from your pet pretty easily. It does, however, round out most of the skills you will be using pre-level-62.

Hunter's Mark is the other thing you learn at level 6. There is some debate over whether Hunter's Mark is worth the mana. In my mind, it is: it provides a sizable DPS boost (particularly over time), and if you are spec'd for Improved Hunter's Mark, it boosts your pet's attack power by a significant amount, too. Think of it this way: if you are a Beast Master or Survival hunter, Improved Hunter's Mark is basically like your own mini-Trueshot-Aura. And if you are Marksman, it's more of the goodness! Rank 4 Hunter's Mark is going to give you an extra 110 AP and the more you shoot it, the higher that bonus rises (for ranged only). Pike's verdict: learn to use and love Hunter's Mark.

Typical Lowbie Hunter Rotation:
-Hunter's Mark
-Serpent Sting Opener
-Auto Shot until the mob is dead, throw in an Arcane Shot every so often to speed things up.

That's really all there is to it. Before you have a pet, you are most advised to use your Arcane Shot whenever you can, though.

If you are looking into doing more PvP than PvE, Arcane Shot is going to become basically the cornerstone of your life and everything you hold dear, but us more-PvE types typically love our Steady Shot more.

And now you've hit level 8. And you've got Concussive Shot. Your mission, if you choose to accept it: put your kiting skills to the test and learn how to jump-shot-kite.

Jump Shot Kiting is accomplished by jumping, turning, shooting, and then turning back and landing, while moving. Sound complicated? It is, and it's difficult at first, but if you practice a little, you will soon have the hang of it. It's a little hard to describe through writing, so I've made a movie:



I don't know if it is the clearest or most helpful movie, so let me know if you need clarification! Also, I have decided that Hellfire Peninsula is perhaps not the best place to hold many of these videos in the future, because over the overwhelming... red...ness... yeah. Note to self: Nagrand next time.

Well, congratulations, you have (hopefully) mastered the art of playing sans-pet. /diploma

And that'll do it for this week's installment of SYWtPaH. (pronounced Suit-paw...? Perhaps!) Be sure to join us next week when we go on a crazy pet-taming adventure!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I taught myself to jump-shot-kite or whatever you crazy kids call it. Before I ever saw anyone else do it I just discovered it was possible.

And yeah any hunter who thinks Hunter's Mark isn't worth it is obviously high or something.

Anonymous said...

Hunter's Mark is always worth it. After I get a pet I remove Hunter's Mark to replace with a macro that makes my pet attack and cast hunter's mark. Getting Improved Hunter's Mark for soloing helps but can be a slight debate as to who should have it in raids.

Now to see how Pike goes about choosing a pet.

Anonymous said...

I know Hunters that don't get Improved Hunter's Mark with this reason:

"Why do I want to improved it?"
"Huh?"
"When I put up Hunter's Mark, it makes me hit harder so I pull aggro off my pet."
"?"
"So why would I want to make it easier to pull aggro off my pet by making Hunter's Mark better?"
"Um, did you read what the Talent does?"
"Nah, doesn't matter anyway, I just don't Mark anymore."

/cry

Anonymous said...

What the hey, how do you turn that quick? Looks pro but I didn't learn a thing from your video since it didn't explain a thing to me. Please do it in slow-mo

Pike said...

@ Anonymous - I'm afraid I don't know how to do it in slow-mo. As I said, this is something that is difficult to teach by example and really requires practice. You turn that quick by using the mouse to turn and not the keyboard, as I tried to explain in the movie. Just move your hand really quickly.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you have to practice turning with the mouse. I think it's hold right click to turn. Then you just move your hand fast.

Anonymous said...

Hm, will watch this video again (and again ^^) when I come home.
I watched that from BRK and you can see him actually jump, turn around and shot but in your video it looks like you're simply running forward and shot backwards...

BTW, did you ever took you black windserpent to kara? I did, once. You know, he does this thing to move away when the target is stunned... pulled two additional groups that way...

Anonymous said...

Just to throw in 2c about Arcane Shot: I like to save it as a finisher, in case my mob does a runner.

Anonymous said...

Nice video, but I have to say, there is so much you missed out. You forgot and so do other hunter video teaching about kitting forgot to include using your aspect and trapping when kitting. They also fail to mention that some mobs cannot be kitted without using those kills. Mobs with dash or intercept skills

Maybe you should do another video including all this skills and call it advance kitting.

I also found different way to do the same thing as your jump shot and still very effective, it always allows me to kit up to 2 or more mobs without my pet (Using my other skill too). My best is 3 at most.

Rather than running facing forward like you do, running sideways it the same as running forward and at the same speed. This way I can see where am going, what is around me and still see what am doing.

This is how I do it on 2 mobs without dash or intercept skills. Mob 1 and 2 I will call them for easy reference,

AoH max rang, HM mob1 first to go down
Multi shot then sting on mob 1 then start running (sideways my way)
Change to AoC then fire a sting and CS mob2.
Switch back to mo1
Lay trap (slow effect) for mob1
You can either change back to AoH and nuke mob 1 but switch to mob2 to refresh sting and so it does not loss interest.
Mob2 will also fall into trap so you can safe your CS on mob1 if it manages to get out of trap b4 it goes down.
Once down you can either change back to AoC (because mob 2 will be almost on-top of you by now) start the kiting allover again but without the using traps.

I tried to make myself as clear as possible so you can try it out yourself, and hope it helps.

Pike said...

@ Juwon - thank you for the feedback, but the movie was supposed to be intended for somebody who is not level ten yet (I suppose I shouldn't have done it on a level 70 character) which is why it does not go into much depth! =P