I’ve noticed with some of the Arena Tier lists for Cata that I see MM/Feral high up on most of the rankings.
I’m curious what changes in Cata either in terms of gameplay in general, other classes or each of these classes that makes this a strong comp where it has been rather weak in Wrath Classic with many hard counters.
I’m also curious particularly about variations on Jungle Cleave 3s and breaking them down into 2s, for example
MM, Feral, Disc is a pretty traditional Jungle Cleave. In Cata, I think RSham becomes really strong (are there specific reasons for this?). I’ve played RSham/Feral 2s and it also seemed like it was really strong, but had some difficulties against some comps that Disc/Feral doesn’t or doesn’t have as much. But is also stronger against some others, like vs Disc/Feral for example!
So, questions… for Jungle Cleave Feral/MM, what is the best healer in Cata? Disc or Rsham, either, what about HPal?
What about for 2s, is Feral/MM the best 2s comp for hunters outside of MM/Sub? And for Feral outside of Feral/Disc?
How is MM/Disc or MM/Rsham? MM/Ret seems pretty strong, what about MM/HPal? is that even viable?
I cant answer all your questions, but i can answer these:
Hunter PvP is a lot better in Cata than it is in Wotlk. This is due to several reasons, namely being able to autoshoot while moving, unlimited resource in focus, trap launcher, monkey pet blind, and chaining RoS. They also deal insane burst damage in cata, especially once you get the 2pc T13 bonus (double focus restore). Also 90%+ crit chance Aimed > Chimera openers from Camouflage make for nasty openers.
Feral PvP is a lot better in Cata than it is in Wotlk. Namely because the dmg profile. The damage ramps up way faster (no longer need to get Savage Roar rolling), and the mastery makes bleeds absolutely insane (20k rip ticks etc). Instant cyclones and offheals. And ferals are even more immortal in bear form than they currently are in wotlk fyi.
Resto Shamans improve a lot in cata pvp. They gain a defensive magic cleanse (no cooldown), the ability to proc a heal upon said cleanse, lots more passive healing (big buffs to HoTs and Heaing Stream Totem output, Unleash Elements, etc). Their mastery and Spirit Link Totem makes it very hard to land kills. They arent squishy like they are in wotlk… quite the opposite.
For Jungle i still think Disc Priest is the superior healer because Mass Dispel is very handy for this comp.
The only reason that hunters are so good in PVP in cata is because they can dismiss their pets and reset the CD’s for roar of sac, pet stun and freedom, its basically unlimited CD’s which buys them enough time to outlive any enemy CD’s. we dont know if this is going to be a thing in cata because its currently broken on beta so it cant be tested.
That being said Rsham will always be the choice for jungle, that kick is to OP for the amount of CC and Burst they have
One of the main reasons Jungle and Thug is so good in cata is because cata is THE expansion when Vanguards Cleave, Smokebomb, Ebola, and Shadowcleave/Shadowplay plagued the ladder. MM/Feral and MM/Sub are especially good at dropping instant CC on the healer and melting DKs. DKs are a nightmare for everyone else this expansion. They’re absolutely disgusting.
These two hunter comps are also very good into Rsham/Lock/X teams which are also quite popular in cata.
Ferals are very good in wrath but completely flop vs big damage casters like ele and destro. In cata they have a lot more survivability which in combination with their crazy damage and new interrupt makes them arguably the best class in the game.
Cata feral is probably the hardest feral to kill, out of all other versions of this game. Savage Defense mastery while in bear form is pretty sick, frenzied regen gets buffed, survival instincts reworked/buffed, etc.
Skull Bash is our new ranged interrupt (all druids get, not just Feral). Its fantastic in cata.
Savage Roar only increases autoattack dmg in cata so you never really use it in pvp anymore which actually greatly improves our rotation and decreases dmg ramp time.
Our only “nerf” is we are no longer able to shift through roots. But that is remedied by all healers now having a defensive magic dispel to keep Ferals on their targets.
Rsham feral in wotlk was amazingly fun. Looking forward to try cata
don’t have much experience with hunters besides the 40-minute “drain comps” and the “win in 10 sec” strats. Sounds like this class gets more interesting, which will be good to see.
Brother at this point they don’t even plan on testing pvp, enjoy finding out on launch what broken versions of spells they forgot to patch out, 2 months of testing for tbc and wotlk, 0 days for cata, things will go smoothe I’m sure /sarcasm
at this point it’s just blizzard cashing in on sub and boost money before the pull the classic is over announcement.
