Post by Cambo
I've been playing
my Troll Hunter for about a year now. Have levelled as BM, and am now at lvl 75.
I'm wanting to review my spec, probably keep BM until I hit 80 then respec or dual-spec to Surv (only because people say it's best raiding spec). Am using
this to level with, and it's worked very well - I have no problem controlling aggro.
Last night I ran DTK with 2 x 75 DK's, a 76 Shammy and a 74 Priest. I topped the meters with 38% of total damage, and also topped DPS by a long way. This surprised me, since I don't aim to top charts, and I'm deep BM specced. The group also wasn't faceroll, and I used my regular rotation.
Checking the talent trees, I can't understand why Surv is so good. Looks to me like it's used primarily for snares and CC? And shouldn't MM be the pure DPS hunter spec?
Can anyone enlighten me as to why MM and Surv are the way they are? They seem a bit backwards to me.
Post by skribs
Another thing that might be part of it is that SV hunters buff the mana of the group, while MM hunters buff the AP of the group. So by themselves, SV and MM are probably closer together - but when you put an MM next to the SV, the SV hunter now benefits from TSA as well. Therefore, comparisons are thrown off a little when both hunters are in a similar situation.
Also consider that SV is much more mana efficient than MM. MM's mana return comes in bursts whenever they cast Rapid Fire, whereas SV gets it every crit (which should happen very often). Not to mention that Chimera Shot is quite a bit more expensive than Explosive Shot, so MM burns through mana a lot quicker. As a result, MM needs to use AotV more, which drops DPS.
Its a combination of all of these things myself and other posters have mentioned - group synergy, massive AP gain through other stats, incredible skills (explosive shot almost rivals kill shot in damage, and its a 6 second CD that lasts the whole fight), and mana efficiency that make SV what it is.
Oh, don't forget
sniper training, which is quite a bit for only 3 talent points.
That said, MM is pretty close, and from what I hear is actually better at higher gear levels (despite SV getting so much from stats). Serpent Sting + Chimera shot scales really well, MM have slightly better AoE damage, and MM gets some nice effects from its spammable abilities (auto-shot and steady shot). MM also benefits your pet more, as it focuses on raw AP (instead of stat-based) which translates damage to your pet better. MM also has an interrupt (if the mob is immune to silence and CC) giving it a bit more use against bosses.
They're both good - I prefer SV, but that's because I prefered SV in TBC when it was the raid-buff spec (I love to be useful).