This is a tips and tricks compilation that I will continue to update as I play more, as more information becomes available, and as I receive comments from you, the readers, below. Note that this collection is only a list of specific tips and tricks for hunters; it is not a general guide to T13. You can find the sources I used in compiling this list at the end of the post if you are curious. I have added a change log so that if you are a return visitor you can check to see what is new.
Morchok
- You can stand behind and between pairs of rock pillars to continue dps when avoiding Black Blood of the Earth.
- If you are on Crystal duty, try to cast your Steadies or Cobras in Fox as the crystal gets low so that the knockback from the crystal exploding does not cancel your cast.
- Preliminary views of the logs suggest that Stomp is only split between players, and so Snake Traps are apparently not helpful for eating damage shares.
- Heroic Mode: Deterrence’s new 30% damage reduction can help with Stomps and are particularly useful for Stomps below 20%.
Zon’ozz
- Hunter pets do not appear to bounce the ball.
- Deterrence does not prevent ball bounce damage, but the new 30% mitigation buff will reduce it.
- Save DPS cooldowns for the black phases. The Valor trinket’s cooldown tends to line up well with these phases.
- If you know you are about to be dispelled, try to (1) cast your Steadies and Cobras in Fox and (2) be closer than max range to the boss so that your dps does not get interrupted by the knockback. Do not creep so close to the boss that it screws up your raid’s game of ping-pong though.
- Heroic Mode: Deterrence allegedly works for avoiding the opening burst damage of Black Phases.
Yor’sahj
- Add kills do appear to trigger Rapid Killing.
- Make good use of Disengage to move around during the fight. Aspect of the Fox is great for moving with an ooze as it travels toward the boss.
- It is possible to get very close to the boss for red oozes. If you find yourself taking too much damage, start using glyphed Raptor Strikes.
- You can Multishot at the boss and hit the black ooze adds if both you and the adds are positioned properly. This can help in avoiding minimum range issues with the adds.
Hagara
- Aspect of the Pack can help during normal mode and LFR Ice phases if your raid is good about not taking damage.
- Disengage is a great tool in case you get behind in the Ice or Lightning phases.
- Aspect of the Wild can help during the Lightning phases, particularly if there is no shaman present. Pets double dip on AotW resists, so it can be a way to keep your pet healthy if nothing else.
- Reposition yourself to help other DPSers free you if you see that you are about to be entombed.
- Hagara takes more damage immediately after a Ice or Lightning phase so, if convenient, try to use dps cooldowns then. The Valor trinket’s cooldown lines up well with these phases.
- Heroic Mode: Use Master’s Call to not be slowed by frost patches during the Ice Phase. Note that you can also cast it on other players who may need the help.
Ultraxion
- On the drake trash before Ultraxion, note that both Distracting Shot and Silencing Shot work to bring the drakes down. A hunter can snag all the drakes himself or herself.
- Some hunters note that pets who apply debuffs do not apply them properly on this fight. I recommend macroing the ability into a shot. Repositioning the pet does not appear to help.
- Try to safely delay using Heroic Will as much as possible so as to preserve as much uptime on the boss as you can.
- You do not need your WASD keys at all this fight so even if you are a clicker you can easily afford to bind Heroic Will for more precision and being able to finish off a shot closer to when you need to hit HW.
- You can activate Heroic Will via a macro with this command:
/click ExtraActionButton1 - Deterrence can eat Hour of Twilight if necessary and can be used on every third Hour cast.
Warmaster Blackhorn
- It can help to have your pet stay Goriona while you stay on Blackhorn. BM is not recommended for this fight if it is your job to down ranged adds.
- It is possible to Disengage out of Shockwaves if you are very quick about it. However, if the Shockwave hits the position you disengaged from while you are in the air, you will be affected by it owing to how Disengage works.
- Your snares do work on Sappers.
- If your tanks collapse for Onslaughts, you can hit a melee add with a glyphed Raptor Strike in order to gain the damage reduction for when the Onslaught hits.
- Deterrence’s 30% damage reduction also works well for blasts and onslaughts.
- If your raid’s buffs are covered, bringing a wasp for the stun on sappers can help.
Spine of Deathwing
- Tendons should be killed within 23 seconds and so are a good mob to save DPS cooldowns for. The Valor trinket is great for this, regardless of spec.
- Pets sometimes die when going after tendons on the lefthand side of the boss. If this is happening to your pet, consider calling your pet back to your side before the tendon dies.
- Glyphed Raptor Strikes are great on this fight owing to the abundance of things to hit. Outside of burning tendons you don’t need to maximize dps, so RSing adds while you are suffering AoE damage is a decent tactic.
- Deterrence helps with blood damage. It also will not break your grip while standing in a socket, so you can use the 30% damage reduction while doing a barrel roll.
Madness of Deathwing
- Deterrence immunity prevents Elementium Bolt damage and so you want to use it every time a bolt is going to reach the ground (notably on any platforms you clear after Nozdormu’s has been cleared).
- Deterrence also offers immunity to Corrupted Blood damage in the final stage. What this means is that if you get low on health, Deterrence can buy healers time to top you off.
- Deterrence’s 30% damage reduction works well for shrapnels on the final platform, particularly if things have gone wrong/unluckily enough that you are receiving another Shrapnel before Dream has come off cooldown. Since you know when Shrapnel will hit, you could conceivably Raptor Strike Deathwing’s head and then pop Deterrence for stacking damage reduction.
- You can dps arms/wings in melee range, meaning that glyphed Raptor Strikes are an option. You can even create a macro so that you Raptor Strike an arm/wing in the midst of dpsing a corruption.
- Feigning does not get rid of Shrapnel in the final phase. It clears the debuff, but the attack still hits you, so it’s basically a waste of time.
- Pets actually respawn while you move between platforms. One of the consequences of this is that if your pet somehow dies, you can just jump platforms to rez it instead of waiting through the long cast of rez pet.
Resources
- Rinku’s hunter tips for T13 normal modes
- WoW Hunter’s Hall boss guides and links
- Arktem’s hunter commentary on heroic DS
Changelog
- 11/19: Added wasp tip to Warmaster.
- 1/20: Added Raptor Strike tip to Madness.
- 2/12: Updated regarding Deterrence changes.
- 2/21: Added more Deterrence and pet tips to Madness.
Deterrence in LFR Madness of Deathwing does work on the Elementium bolts and really well. You can see the cast bar and then just pop it as it starts.
Thanks for this, most especially the link to Aktem’s post which makes fascinating reading.
I can also confirm with Jay that Deterrence will deflect bolt damage. I cast it as soon as the bolt flies out of Deathwing and I cancel it soon after it lands. Your healers will thank you.
Depending on your raid DPS or set up its possible to have a MM hunter solo DPS a limb tentacle past 75% on 10man madness of deathwing. We do this on the platorm we leave for last to have alexstraza kill one round of small tentacle adds while still up and make the last platform a shorter duration. MM suggested as the self heals of chim will keep you up longer alone.
This doesn’t do anything screwy with Deathwing casting Cataclysm?
I have updated the tips on Madness to reflect the comments so far.
I was able to DPS Nozdormu’s tentacle from Ysera’s platform. Requires standing close to the front edge, but is possible if you want to remain near heals. May vary between platforms, but worth a try.
Hadn’t considered the benefit of Alexstraza helping kill the adds. Will see if my raid lets me do more this week. Our 10m generally has spare time on the first 2-3 platforms, then cut it close on the final one.
When my 10m tried DPSing adjacent tentacles on the Madness fight, the whole raid seemingly took a ton of damage, even when they were on another platform. Were we mistaken about this, or will having 25+ stacks on an adjacent tentacle significantly increase damage to the raid?
Do not dps the adjacent limb below 90% to prevent the extra dmg, i believe 90% is the point where DW will spawn the tenticle and other timers for corrupted bloods etc will start
although i have no idea if this would us helped kill him, as one of the few good tries i actually did this madness bugged out on us.
As soon as we killed the 3rd platform Madness went into Phase 2, however as the 4th tenticle was never kill he had above 40% health (every limb death causes 20% dmg to him) and with only 1 tank and 2 healers the 2nd phase simply lasted to long to get a kill.
(although the major aoe dmg won’t start until 15% health)
After Madness bugged out on us this way we where to afraid to try this again.
I have updated the post’s wording to be more cautious. Thanks.
If u go to the “blue platform” and DPS down the wing to 75% doesn´t it trigger tentacle behind the Hunter?
and
“The tentacles deal more damage the lower the big tentacle’s health is, and the hunter should keep this in mind so as to not die.” didn´t understand that really, do u mean that if a tentacle is up on another platform the Blistering tentacles will deal more damage on me?
You should recommend everyone who attempts spine to buy a valour trinket and to only use the trinket during the tendon burn phase.
I recommended that in my post on that trinket but, yes, you’re right, I should add that here too.