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| Reviewed 2/2/2012 Patch 4.3.2 |
View other WHU WoW Cataclysm hunter guides.
Among the huge changes that Cataclysm brought to the hunter class is the new improved glyph system. For the survival hunter trying to get the best dps out of raids, choosing the best glyphs can make a huge difference.
This glyph guide is specifically for SV hunters. Other hunter specs will have different glyph needs. Keep in mind that your SV glyph choice can change based on your gear, and what is the best glyph for one hunter may not be the best for you; however, there are several glyphs that are clearly on the top of the SV hunter short list.
Best SV Hunter Prime Glyphs
Glyph of Explosive Shot
One thing that didn’t change in Cataclysm is the Explosive Shot glyph. A 6% boost to the SV signature shot makes this a sure thing for SV hunters.
Glyph of Serpent Sting
The serpent sting glyph gives a nice crit chance boost to Serpent Sting. SV in Cataclysm gets more benefit from Serpent Sting than any other spec — both from their mastery boosting the damage, and from Toxicology boosting the crit damage of Serpent Sting.
Glyph of Kill Shot
There is no question but that it’s immensely satisfying to fire off two focus-free kill shots in a row down at the tail end of the fight. This glyph is the solid choice for many SV hunters.
Glyph of Arcane Shot
The glyph of Arcane Shot is an increasingly attractive option for SV hunters in patch 4.3 on. At the start of Cataclysm SV hunters rarely had enough spare focus for Arcane Shots in their rotation: by 4.3 with the increased haste and the tier 13 set bonus Arcane Shots are far more frequent and this glyph is definitely worthwhile. Having your tier 13 set makes this glyph choice better than Kill Shot or Serpent Sting.
Best SV Hunter Major Glyphs
Glyph of Disengage
I’m a huge fan of the glyph of disengage. While it doesn’t directly increase our dps in any way, the movement benefits of disengage (and the always cool-looking Jump Disengage technique) are big. A shorter cooldown on disengage can be very useful.
Glyph of Trap Launcher
If you are taking advantage of Explosive Trap in your rotation to get more Lock & Load procs, the Glyph of Trap Launcher is a no-brainer in the major glyph slot. This glyph will make the cost of launching Explosive Trap negligible, making room for yet more Arcane Shots in your rotation.
Glyph of Whatever
For your third glyph we have a choice of utility options, but no direct dps gains. So take whatever will work best for your playstyle.
Best SV Hunter Minor Glyphs
Glyph of Feign Death
Reducing the cooldown of Feign Death can definitely be an advantage in raids where you always seem to need to FD just before it’s available again. At least you can claim there is some kind of advantage to it, unlike most hunter minor glyphs
Glyph of Whatever
For your third glyph, there is pretty much nothing that is practically useful except in the most rare situations. So take whatever tickles your fancy.
See Also:
Hows Glyph of Arcane Shot compare to Kill Shot for third glyph. I am aware that Surv generally fires the least amount of Arcane Shots, but they also hit the hardest. I’m going to use it either way for five mans and any xp/farming i happen to do as Survival, but without getting into specific encounters with long/short execute phases, is it even close?
Also how does ES shot handle Dot refreshing/overwriting. Obviously there’s a DPS loss with doing ES, ES,ES during Lnl. but is something like ES, KS, ES, KS, ES sufficient since the last tick of ES will allow “ES’s dot to be refreshed” by adding the duration to the existing dot. If so does the third ES need a slightly longer delay ( either 2 GCDs or 1.5+ cobra) to avoid clipping?
Your Surv shot guide didn’t really make this clear since you recommend both a 1 GCD ability ( KC) and cobra shot that will likely be between 1.5-1.85 second cast time. Just want clarification on exactly how much time needs to pass between the first and second ES, and the second and third ES assuming you refreshed it at the earliest possible time (presumably gcd+lag)
My gut says 1 seconds between 1st and second making the next ES’s dot last up to 3 seconds then you’d have to wait at least 2 seconds from the second ES to cast the third. Anyway any light you could shed on this topic would be great.
Basically I’m just worried if I did something like ES, KS, ES, KS, ES I’d be clipping a tick of ES compared to ES, KS, ES, KS, AS, ES. For a non-Execute high focus variation maybe ES, KC, ES, AS (or Cobra), ES Vs ES, KC, ES, AS, AS (honestly probably be a cobra due to focus costs), ES
I also am assuming Shot travel time can more or less be ignored since all the shots will be fired from the same distance and thus take the same amount of time before they apply their dot etc.
Arcane Shot is a pretty crummy glyph for SV — in practice you fire very few arcane shots.
ES ticks twice after it lands, once per second. So as long as you weave anything in between, you won’t overwrite (so you fire Explosive, have a 1 sec gcd, fire Kill Shot for another 1 sec gcd, and you’re 2 seconds has now elapsed and you can fire ES again).
Glyph of Arcane shot is probably not worth it.
If you have 3 cobra shots filling up the gaps between explosive shots. And keeping in mind the fact you need an extra 35 focus every 24 seconds for Black Arrow, you are almost running even on focus income to focus expenses. So only once you get some haste in and can get an extra cobra shot off will you see those arcane shots come into play.
As for Lock and Load. The dot don’t stack in anyway (neither direct nor rolling like piercing shots), so you have to wait 2 seconds after each ES before you can fire the next. 1 second of that is used up by ES’s own GCD, the other can be used on an ability.
You have to wait just as long between each ES, there is no reason you’d have to wait longer after the second. ES deals its damage 3 times, once when the debuff is applied, then again 1 second later, and a 3th time 2 seconds after application. As long as your next ES lands after that 3th tick, you’re in the clear.
Personally I’m not a huge fan of using KC as survival, as the focus cost is pretty high and the damage return isn’t much higher than a cobra shot. Especially seeing as you need another 44 focus later on for the 3th explosive shot, so that 40 focus on KC will really hit you hard.
If possible I’d do this rotation when low on focus:
ES – CS – ES – CS – ES
This one when average to high on focus:
ES – CS – ES – AS – ES
And of course using other instants if those are better options (KS / BA / SrS if any of those apply).
yea basically i be retarded, ES’s own GCD + any other gcd = ES in the clear.
I think I thought ES lasted 3 seconds or something when i started typing that spiel up.
Well let’s put it this way.. if your crit is low.. go for explosive shot. (Like say under 30% crit) if it’s over that… then exchange your explosive shot glyph with arcane shot. I’m not sure how the rest of you guys are geared but i’m firing off quite a few arcane shots during my rotation. Mainly due to haste though. I fire off enough CS’s before ES comes off of cooldown that when I DO fire ES.. i have 2 AS’s lined up back to back behind it.. I do that two or 3 times (can’t remember which) before BA comes off of cooldown.. and by that time I can pop BA+ES+AS and continue my normal rotation.
When I proc LnL I pop ES first, then AS, then back to ES just as the dot duration of it ticks off reapplying it, then another AS.. then back to my normal routine. I’m pullin about 16k dps in heroics.. was doin about 25k on the first boss in BWA
SV definitely is the most liberal in its glyph use. Basically all its major glyphs are up for grab (although disengage is an obvious choice and favorite for many players including me).
I would vouch for Glyph of Trap Launcher too, as that is pretty much the only other major glyph that can have a direct effect on your dps in certain situations.
Hey frost, i was wondering would you be doing a guide to which rep should we be grinding for first when we hit 85 in order to get the really cool items? also which pieces we should probably be getting first witht he justice points?
Have you thought of getting an internal cooldown timer for Glyph of killshot? It says it can only be used Every 6 seconds, but the CD of Killshot is 9 seconds. If you wait 6 seconds after every killshot you effectively reduce KS cooldown to 6 seconds and can get 1-2 more free instant shots into a boss before it dies. Quite handy. Boss hits 20% KS – other shots – after 6 seconds KS – boss is about dead now? no problem cause KS just recharged again. KS. Obviously this wont be too easy once we start overgearing dungeons and raids but for introductory cata content the fights should last long enough to see some benefit, No?
This works, but to make that work you need 2 criteria to trigger:
1) The boss dies sub-20% in 30 seconds or less. Any longer, and your benefit fades.
2) It only works in very small windows.
Basically it only works on heroic bosses, and would rely purely on luck.
To show it shortly:
0 0
1 6
11 12
12 18
22 24
23 30
33 36
34 42
44 48
45 54
55 60
56 61
The number stands for T=x in which you fire the kill shot. The left column shows using KS on cooldown and thus twice in row. The right shows your method.
There are only a few windows. Between 7-12 seconds; between 19-22 seconds; and between 31-33 seconds; and lastly at 43 seconds. At all these values you’d gain 1 extra shot abusing the 6 sec ICD.
You’d have to be psychic to make this work and know exactly when a boss dies.
As our first priority in Cataclysm will be levelling then I would have thought that Glyph of Misdirection is a must have. The ability to constantly transfer threat to your pet is a powerful ability indeed.
This guide is for raid dps at level 85. For leveling from 80-85, please see this guide: http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/2010/11/cataclysm-leveling-spec-80-85/
In Response to Raikas:
While the time table above might look promising for certain fights, I think your method would end up doing more harm than good, especially once Cata is released and boss fights spend more time in the kill shot range. This is due to the fact that the normal method averages a KS once every 5.5 seconds (2 KS over 11 seconds (10 second CD + 1 second GCD in between each KS), and your method averages one every 6 seconds.(KS, Wait 6, KS, etc) Over 6 KS Cooldowns (1 Min) This equates to the loss of a KS.
what should a fresh 85s dps look like on the dummy?
May sound strange but Raptor Strike glyph may be of use in some fights where we get stuck under boss and cant dps.
I’m seeing 2 Glyphs of “Whatever” under Major Glyphs. Both say “for your third glyph”; is this simply a typo for the second glyph or is was it accidentally put in twice?
Just a typo from copy & paste. But there is not clear dps choice for any of the major glyphs for SV.
I try to keep up with theorycraft as much as possible BUT I have to say that with major lag issues, at the moment, BM is the way to go. Pet damage makes up for my 20% lag downtime. Tried all specs. BM – 25k DPS, MM – 22k, SV – 23k. I know SV raid spec is the way to go at the moment BUT – that’s only if you don’t have bad lag with perfect rotations imo.
Raid leaders will say “wtf – a BM in a raid” – wait for a few fights and let them reply when you are top of the DPS tables – even with major lag
1. HM
2. SS
3. 1-button spam macro as follows (obviously Berserking for Trolls only):
#showtooltip
/cast Rapid Fire
/cast Berserking
/cast [pet]Bestial Wrath
/cast [pet,nogroup]Intimidation
/cast Focus Fire
/use 14
/use 13
/castsequence Cobra Shot
/castsequence Arcane Shot
/castsequence [pet]Kill Command
/castsequence Kill Shot
With the T13 2pcs bonus, surv is staying capped quite often and is using more arcane shots. How will this affect the BiS glyphs?
Please look at:
http://www.wowhuntershall.com/2011/11/21/survival-rotation-changes-in-4-3/
Seems that Glyph or Arcane shot is perhaps more beneficial than Serpent Sting.
Comment?
Raptor strike is huge in Dragon Soul. Show the healers some love, and keep yourself alive a bit better. There are a lot of fights that put you within mele of the boss, so use it when you can and make your raid healers happy.
I agree, I’d add raptor strike to the glyph list- there are quite a few fights in DS where it can be handy (Yor, Ultraxion, Spine, Madness).