It’s here, patch 5.4, The Siege of Orgrimmar. In this patch we lost Readiness, our burst in PvP, and gained a lot of other buffs. Preliminary indication is that BM will still provide the best single target DPS. SV will continue to be strong AoE, and Marksman will still rank third. It should be noted that MM won’t be that far behind, so if you’re truly a fan of that spec you should really give it a look.
When the servers come up, I’m looking forward to a simpler BM rotation, practicing my skills in the Proving Grounds, and steady raid attendance via Flex Raiding. I’m also hoping to get caught up on the legendary questline. And of course I’m looking forward to punching Garrosh in the face and living to tell about it.
Okay, patch 5.4, let’s do this.
General
- The following Hunter pet abilities no longer cost Focus to use: Dash, Dive, and Charge.
- Arcane Shot now deals 125% ranged weapon damage (up from 100%) and had its focus cost increased by 50%.
- Counter Shot is now a baseline interrupt ability learned by all Hunters at level 22.
- Deterrence now has a 3-minute cooldown (up from 2 minutes) but has 2 charges.
- Disengage now has a cooldown of 20 seconds (down from 25 seconds).
- Explosive Trap had its overall damage decreased by 30%. Proportionately, more damage has been removed from the initial damage than the periodic effect.
- Hunter’s Mark now has a duration of 20 seconds while in PvP combat (down from 30 seconds).
- Readiness has been removed.
- Revive Pet no longer requires the Hunter to have line-of-sight to their pet.
- Stampede damage dealt by pets when the ability is used outside of an Arena or Battleground is no longer reduced by 75%
Beast Mastery
- Beast Cleave’s range has been increased to 10 yards (up from 8 yards).
- Kill Command damage has been increased by 34%.
Marksman
- Aimed Shot now deals 450% ranged weapon damage (up from 350%).
- Binding Shot is no longer a Marksman Hunter ability and is once again a talent.
Survival
- Explosive Shot damage has been increased by 27%.
- Explosive Trap no longer shares a cooldown with Black Arrow but can no longer activate Lock and Load.
Talents
- A Murder of Crows now deals 40% more damage.
- Aspect of the Iron Hawk now reduces all damage taken by 10%, down from 15%.
- Glaive Toss no longer initiates auto-attack.
- Lynx Rush’s damage has been increased by 30%.
- Narrow Escape’s root effect is now a nature spell (was a physical spell).
- Silencing Shot is no longer a talent and is now an ability that replaces Counter Shot for Marksman Hunters.
- Spirit Bond now regenerates 3% of total health every 2 seconds while the Hunter’s pet is active (up from 2%).
- Wyvern Sting now has a range of 40 yards (up from 35 yards).
Glyphs
- New Major Glyphs
- Glyph of the Lean Pack: Reduces the range of Aspect of the Pack to 7 yards.
- Glyph of Enduring Deceit: Camouflage also reduces spell damage taken by 10%
- Major Glyphs
- Glyph of Mend Pet now has a 100% chance of cleansing 1 Curse, Disease, Magic or Poison effect from the Hunter’s pet on each tick (up from 50% chance).
- Glyph of Mending now speeds up the periodic effect of Mend Pet to restore health to the pet every 1 second doubling the total amount healed over 10 seconds.
- Glyph of No Escape now increases the ranged critical strike chance against targets affected by the Hunter’s Freezing Trap by 100% (up from 20% chance).
