This guide is a compact version of some of the long drawn out ones you find on the internet, these are the bare bones you will need and I included some neat tips and tricks you can’t find on other guides I read when I was learning the class.
This thread is basically a guide on how you want to approach every fight, and what you want to know to do and when, and why.
How to start a boss fight:
ALWAYS start by pressing your shoot skill, so your auto-shot can crank up and be shot right after casting Aimed Shot, don’t let an auto shot fly, or jesus christ please don’t put up Serpent Sting. This means that you should be shooting your Aimed Shot first, and auto shot coming out instantly after aimed shot is cast. The reason for this is, because if your timing is perfect then you should be shooting your Aimed Shot (finishing the cast) about .5 seconds after the tank has initiated contact with the boss, so timing this is something that’s different for every boss and you want to practice every week. IMMEDIATELY after Aimed Shot is finished casting, and your auto shot is shot directly after, then cast Multishot, in terms this means you should have this done 1.5 seconds or less after the fight is started. NOW, you’re probably thinking “well won’t you pull aggro” yes this is where the last part comes in handy, use your FD immediately after multi-shot is shot and stand right back up, and press your Shoot skill and you’re on your way!
Do’s and Don’ts:
Never move if possible, this goes down to preparing before every fight where you want to stand to do the least amount of moving. The equation is easy - Less Moving = More DPS. If you do have to move, then time it up with your Hunter Timer so that you can move without losing DPS, so you would stop, shoot, then keep running, stop and shoot when you’re ready to cast then keep moving, instead of just strait running across the room and losing all those seconds you could be doing DPS.
Hunters have the longest range in the game, use this to your advantage, always stay as far away as possible to avoid boss mechanics like AOE damage, or if you have single target abilities like bomb on baron geddon, where you have to run out of the group, you will already be partially away from people and get that head start.
How to Not Go OOM
This is a HUGE part of your DPS, and isn’t covered in a lot of guides that I have seen, so I’ll go over it here. A huge misconception with hunters is because you can FD and drink in combat, that it gives you an advantage, FALSE!. Any time you’re sitting and doing no damage, you’re falling way behind to rogues and warriors. To begin with you always want to have Superior Mana Potions (Greaters are overpriced and not needed) and Demonic Runes (farmed in felwood off Satyrs). At the beginning of a fight, you want to wait until you’ve used about 1200 of your mana, so basically if you have 4000 mana, wait until you’re at about 2800, and pop a Superior Mana Potion, this should put you back to anywhere from 96-100% mana. Phase 2 - wait til you dip back down to about 2800 mana, and use your Demonic Rune this should put you back at 96-100% and will give you however longer you need to go from 100%-OOM before Superior Mana Potion is off CD and you can use it again. Phase 3 - after you’ve used your Demonic Rune you should be at about 100% mana, so this gives you about a minute until your Superior Mana Potion is off CD, so go crazy on DPS here and don’t worry about mana, you won’t go 100-OOM in that length of time so use your Superior Mana Potion as soon as its off CD.
Things To Keep In Mind:
Generality speaking you want to think about these things when approaching each boss fight -
Always stand away from the raid, you want to be able to sit in one spot and be a arrow/bullet cannon.
Stand somewhere you never have to move! if you know the fight requires movement, position yourself to where you can minimize that as much as possible, when you’re moving you’re losing DPS.
Get your rotation down to the nines, its complex compared to other classes so the sooner you can nail it perfect, and for many minutes at a time the sooner you’ll be doing the most optimal damage you can for your class.