BC Hunter Builds?

[Kevin]

If I were still playing my 60 hunter I think I'd go for something like this. I'll comment on some things.

Endurance Training over Improved Aspect of the Hawk
I figure that I will always have the new Aspect of the Viper on and so Aspect of the Hawk won't be used. When soloing I find that the two things that slow me down is mana and having to mend my pet instead of shooting (which eats mana as well). Aspect of the Viper should help with the mana part of that some. Endurance Training helps a little with the mending because I can wait longer to have to mend and so may not have to on some fights.

Bestial Discipline over Thick Hide
These points could easily be moved. I just don't feel like Go for the Throat will be enough. This is something that will just kind of have to be tested. It could be that no points are needed in Bestial Discipline. It could be that 1 point is enough. It could be that 2 points is still required. This also depends on what pet you use. If you get a cat pet then having both Bestial Discipline and Go for the Throat may allow you to have growl, bite, and claw all on at the same time. Claw may still use too much focus though. Like I said, its something that will kind of have to be judged in game.

Catlike Reflexes over Animal Handler
Only one point to spare here, but I'm thinking that the added dodge will help the having to stop shooting to mend thing some. I've also never really noticed too much of a miss problem with my pet. I'm sure +hit will add damage, but I'm just unsure its enough to be worth choosing it over the dodge.

Mortal Shots over assorted other things
This one is complicated. I don't really feel like Aimed Shot is worth it, but its required to get Mortal Shots. So if you chose not to get Mortal Shots you would have 6 points to spend. This means being able to get Hawkeye (3 points) as well as Catlike Reflexes (2 more) and Animal Handler (1). This is kind of a tough choice. Hawkeye is very nice to have, but I like the damage from Mortal Shots. So I could see a person going many different ways with this.

If you aren't using a pet with a claw style attack, then you also may not need Go for the Throat. Bestial Disciple should be enough for such a pet. Which means you can take those 2 points and put them elsewhere. Possibly finishing off Animal Handler (1 more point) and putting another point in Thick hide(1 more).

Another option to consider would be Hawkeye + the Slaying talents. If you don't need Go for the Throat then you have 8 points to spend. Thats Hawkeye(3) and Slaying(5) though I'm not sure which slaying would be missing the one point.

Overall I'm thinking Mortal Shots and Go for the Throat are probably the better route to go. Especially if it frees up some points from Bestial Discipline to move to Thick Armor. There seem to be alot of little tweaks in the build that need to be made based on how it plays in game, but overall I think that is what I would go.

Gear makes a huge difference in some of this as well. Part of the reason I did some of the differences from what you did and why I think I'll still run with Hawk is that I've gotten used to being in top end MC/AQ20/ZG gear. The only time I need to use mend pet is when grinding elites, and the tougher pet (they scale some with gear) woud change that a lot as well. But yeah I had very similar thoughts.

The big difference was that back of the envelop calcs showed that with serpent's swiftness imp AotH might actually be more damage than mortal shots. Having the 10 points at the top of tree also loosens up some of the other stuff.

But yeah beastial discipline is still a tough call, but since I'm already sitting on around a 30% crit rate I think go for the throat will be enough. But I could end up doubling up on them. And yeah I keep looking to see how to tweak 2 more points into catlike instead of just 1. I might drop the +hit talent, but I tend to fight mobs that are higher level than me a fair bit while leveling and that is where it will help most for the pet keeping aggro and doing damage.

Of course I expect a few respecs to happen. :)