# Azortharion's Hunter Overview for Patch 12.0.5
# About
- Created by [Azortharion-Kazzak](<https://www.warcraftlogs.com/character/eu/kazzak/azortharion>), I'm a Hunter Guidewriter on Icy-Veins (and MM on Wowhead) and Content Creator focused on Hunter PvE Minmaxing. I've played Hunter at a Hall of Fame/Rank 1-logging level for over a decade.
- Helping people enjoy their Hunters more is my job, made possible by [Patreon](<https://www.patreon.com/azortharion>) and [Twitch](<https://www.twitch.tv/Azortharion>) supporters, who get access to my custom WoW UI, personal Hunter coaching, and access to a growing archive of Hunter Coaching Videos made for higher-tier Patrons. Most people make the same mistakes, so there is a lot to learn by watching me review other people's VoDs/logs.
- I am reachable and communicative on my [Discord](<http://discord.gg/Azortharion>). Feel free to ping or DM me there if you have questions, suggestions, etc.
- Lkcmntsbscrb.
# Disclaimers
- Sims aren't perfect, they could be all wrong. We don't know what we don't know. Sims are usually at least slightly wrong, but they are better than all other methods of knowledge generation.
- This time around, MM sims in particular are a bit rough around the edges, especially on AoE/Cleave. I think there are builds out there not explored by the current sim stack. The talent changes have massively complicated the talent tree and the ways you can combine builds with active abilities has exploded, so there's probably some more in Marksmanship than the numbers reveal.
- My Hunter Guides on Icy-Veins are updated with builds, but they are going to get rapid updates over the next reset or two as we figure out more stuff. Bookmark them.
# Sim Parameters
- Max iLvl Mythic BiS Gear.
# Changes Since Last Video
- Patch 12.0.5 has a semi-rework (idk what counts as a rework so I'm just protecting myself from the comments) for Marksmanship, 5-6% overall buffs to Survival, and nothing for Beast Mastery.
- Survival also had a bug fixed where Boomstick wasn't benefitting from Tip, giving it a little extra.
# Marksmanship Deep Dive
## Old vs New Sim Numbers
### Single-Target
- Full ST Build +9.5%, but with passive cleave massively reduced as Black Arrow (40-50% of your damage) is not Hydra-affected.
- Headshot massively punishes target swapping. You'll wanna hit the same target from start to finish on bosses whenever possible. Some fights just screw you over for fun like Belo'ren Eggs and L'ura Phase changes.
- +7.6% in M+ build with the same caveats.
### 3-Target + Prio
- ~13% nerf on Vanguard-style fights.
- ~7% nerf to funnel, depends a bit on build.
### 8-Target
- Since we never played Tricks before, it doesn't really make sense to compare to it.
- Hydra AoE is down 19%, basically completely murdered.
- Trick Shots AoE is ~5% higher than old Hydra. However, pretty much all relevant 2-target DPS is lost, and DPS on smaller pulls than 8 is nerfed. Tricks funnel is also around 11% worse than old Hydra.
# Single-Target
- SV has ~145K 1-min bursts, MM has ~200K+ 2-minute bursts, BM has ~130K 30-second bursts. Generally speaking, all else being equal, being bursty is better than being flat. On the other hand, you don't need or want EVERYONE in your raid to be bursty, but Hunter fills the burst niche much better than the "flat" niche.
- MM has execute but it's not as strong as it was in the past.
- Single-Target is mostly relevant for Belo'ren (Eggs), and L'ura, two of the harder bosses this raid. However, L'ura in particular also has significant burst AoE demands for the Crystals. As gear grows, however, the Crystals DPS check will probably become trivial with time, making it basically a single-target DPS race.
- MM DR ST is heavily reliant on the "Headshot" Talent, which is a debuff that stacks on your target and causes Black Arrow to deal more damage. This debuff is lost whenever you swap targets or whenever your target, say, transforms into an Egg that must be killed. Therefore, in many cases, Marksmanship oversims on single-target.
# 3-Target (Lightblinded Vanguard) + Funnel/Prio Damage
- All specs get single-target damage benefits from the presence of additional targets. The damage done to your primary target is called "prio" damage or funnel damage. This is relevant for many fights in the raid.
- 3-Target Sims also cover the Lightblinded Vanguard fight fairly well.

# Non-Damage Things
- In terms of Hero Talent tankiness, it's Dark Ranger >> Sentinel > Pack Leader. Survival is innately tankier than the other two specs with 6% built-in damage reduction. Otherwise, MM and BM are as good as equal.
- In terms of mobility, obviously, Marksmanship will lose far more damage with excessive movement than Beast Mastery. How this impacts you will be a skill/practice thing. Well-played MM loses quite little from movement. #1 tip for Marksmanship movement is "never stand still when you are not casting Aimed Shot".
# Mythic+
- "Efficiency" Ranking is what's important. It takes ST and AoE into account in equal measure. The advantage over typical M+ sims is that we are not overvaluing AoE just because AoE numbers are innately higher. 40% of the time in most keys is spent on single-target bosses/minibosses, etc.
- Sims aren't perfect for Mythic+ but they're pretty good. Sims tend to underrate burst and chain pulling value (like Bullseye for MM).
- Marksmanship is oversimming somewhat, mostly on single-target and prio, because of the Headshot stuff discussed in the single-target section above. The Headshot buff is single-target, though, so the AoE difference is not too large.
- On bigger packs, BM is better. On smaller packs, SV is better.
- MM DR M+ has no 2-target, as it uses Trick Shots, which is crushingly bad in many scenarios. In some dungeons it's just kind of unplayable, and that lack of flexibility means I think that BM/Survival are generally the best Hunter specs for M+. Given Survival's significant prio advantage and really good cleave, I think it is the best Hunter spec for M+ for the most part. But Beast Mastery is gonna be the most popular since it's not really meaningfully worse for 99% of people.
- For BM Hero Talents, Dark Ranger still wins on top of being a lot tankier, but the gap is pretty small, with most of it being on pure single-target. Dark Ranger has a lot more to think about in terms of priorities.
# TL;DR "What Spec Is Best Where?"
- For most guilds that are going to push for Cutting Edge at this point, the raid basically begins with Vanguard, so that's what I will concern myself with.
- For Vanguard, I think SV could be better at this point, but you'd need to be really good at melee/Survival to realize that potential and let's be honest, if you're not already an SV diehard, you're probably not.
- For Crown of the Cosmos, Marksmanship has taken a big nerf in Phase 1. It is also much less effective at basically solo-dealing with the 5:50 and 7:50 Add Sets in P3. I think Survival is probably better on the fight, but not by much. Again, if you're not already a diehard, it is not worth scrambling to try and learn it now.
- For Belo'ren, Marksmanship is still king, everything just lines up too well.
- For L'ura, Marksmanship is still king of the Crystal damage niche. However, its boss damage is quite bad compared to Survival/BM. I think that you're better off playing Beast Mastery on this fight for the kill, maybe some Marksmanship early on just to carry the Crystal sets to get through it and learn the fight. Maybe swap once you are in Phase 3 semi-reliably. **That said, I do think the best overall spec for this fight is Survival. But I do not think it is better by such a margin that it is worth learning it from scratch just for this fight.**
- For Mythic+, I think it's Survival >= BM > MM.
# For Updated Season 1 BiS Lists, Talent Builds, Stat Priorities, and Rotation Guides, check [Icy-Veins](https://www.icy-veins.com/wow/class-guides).
# [AzorUI](<https://uipacks.wago.io/pack/azorui>) Updated for Midnight S1
- All classes/specs.
- Extremely CPU efficient, virtually no FPS impact.
- No AI coded garbage, developed by a real developer.
- Every feature a competitive PvE player could want, and more coming thick and fast.
- Continuously updated and improved, all subs get personal support and help via my Discord.
## Sub on [Twitch](<https://www.twitch.tv/azortharion>) or [Patreon](<https://www.patreon.com/azortharion>) for access.