Gearing your level 70 hunter (Part 1)

Grats!! You just dinged 70!! Welcome to a world without an exp bar, and hopefully a flying mount.

Dinging 70 is a bit like graduating from high school, you feel on top of the world, you are elite, you are uber, the highest level possible…then you start to look around at other level 70s gear. Perhaps you ask about joining a karazhan run or an heroic and are told you are no going to cut it in those green Of the Gorilla items. Suddenly, you feel like it’s your first day of college, a whole new game has opened up, you don’t have the right sports kit and you don’t know all the moves.  Your friendly hunter guide is here to help you with kit.  Here are some items that you can lay your hands on easily, and that won’t get you laughed out of kara.

Just before we start, a reminder at what we are aiming for:

Recommended Kara entry level stats (you can go in a bit lower, but much lower and you won’t be pulling your weight):

Beastmaster – 7,500 hp 6,000 mana 1500 ap 18% crit +75 hit
Marksman – 7,500 hp 6,500 mana 1800 ap 18% crit +75 hit
Survival* – 7,500 hp 6,000 mana 600 agility 25% crit +30 hit

* full survival only recommened for 1 hunter in group, and only after you have 600 agility unbuffed to support exposed weakness talent. You need less hit as you have surefooted talent, which does not show up on char sheet. You will get more crits thru talents, which do.

Reminder of the key stats to focus on, in order of importance:

Hit rating – 142 is the hunter hit cap (or 99 with 3/3 surefooted talents) – and yes this goes top – if you don’t hit you don’t do any damage.
Agility – 1 agility = 1 ap, but becuase of the extra crit, dodge and armor it gives, go for ap over agility only when it is about twice as much
Attack Power – attack power applies to range and melee attack power
Critical strike chance
Stamina
Intellect – with a good shot rotation and use of consummables you can get by on the minimum about of mana without minimising your dps

What you do NOT need:

Strength – has no place on a hunters gear. Strength only gives melee attack power, not ranged attack power, while agility and attack power give both. You should never be stacking strength, even if you occassionally have to melee, as your agility and ap will provide the same power, while also providing power to you bow/gun shots.

Spirit – is ok but you should not be stacking for it, there are too many other useful things to get.

OK on to the gear:

Ranged weapon:
* if you are a beastmaster hunter look for a weapon with a speed of around 2.80 – marks and survival slower is good too
Valanos’ Longbow – BOE Ah – prices vary usually around 30-80G (ony my server)
Consortium buster – BOP requires revered reputation with the Consortium (quests in Nagrand and Netherstorm)
Truestrike Crossbow – BOP Shattered sun offensive revered
Merciless gladiator’s crossbow of the phoenix – pvp reward

Don’t forget to scope = +10 adamantite scope good value for money at this level (there are 2 better scopes, but the price jumps up significantly – all are available boe on the ah or from a friendly engineer)

Ammo – the best you can probably get your paws on are adamantite stingers and shells which give 43 dps (made by engineers – boe on ah). Cenarion expedition sell pretty good arrows for rep, and halaa (nagrand) sell the shells equivalent.

See a friendly leatherworker for a 20 slot ammo pouch/quiver, which gives 15% haste rating (there are also 24 slot bags – but again the price jumps up).

Melee weapons:
2handers:
Crystal Forged War axe – BOE ah – ugly things but good stats
Terrokk’s Quill – quest reward for killing end boss in normal Sethekk halls
Sonic Spear (of awesomeness) – great hunter weapon – one problem – you have to kill Murmur in Shadow Labs
Merciless Gladiator’s Decapitator – pvp gear – av honor tokens from 24 June (do not get the sword it has strength instead of agility)

1handers:
Swords – shattered sun offensive revered rep
Merciless gladiator’s – several choices compare stats looking for the ones best for a hunter
ced’s carver – boe going cheap on ah near u
Crystalline Kopesh – blue quest reward from Durn the Hungerer – OK has hit which is nice but no agility
Cerimonial Warmaul Bloodblade – quest reward from ring of blood in Nagrand (there is also a fist weapon with the same stats if these are ur thing)

There are others – these are just some suggestions

Don’t forget your enchants – the best you can get is +35 agility but that is expensive otherwise there are +15agility to a 1h weapon and +20 agility to a 2h weapon.

Don’t worry about sharpening stones, but mana oil for your weapons is useful for a hunter.

In part 2 I will cover armor.

Please note, although no boardcode and smiley buttons are shown, they are still useable