Patch 3.0.2 Hunter Survival Guide

So I was reading over at A Dwarf Priest and found this lovely survival guide for being a priest in the 3.0.2 patch, and eventually in Wrath of the Lich King. This inspired me to go out and do some research and build something similar for the hunters in the group.

I do not claim to be anywhere near as good as the dwarf priest. At all. No how, no way.

But I have given it a go. Not being in beta or on the PTR, I may have some things just all totally wonkered up. But, at least it's all compiled together.

Mechanics Changes

• All aspects have had their cool-down shortened to 1 second from 1.5 seconds. Additionally, aspects no longer cost mana.
• Aspect of the Beast now also increases melee attack power by 10% for the hunter and the hunter’s pet. This skill retains the functionality of making the hunter untrackable.
• Aspect of the Viper has been redesigned. This aspect now regenerates mana based on the hunter’s ranged weapon speed; it no longer is affected by intellect or level.
• Arcane Shot no longer dispels magic effects; this functionality has moved to Tranquilizing Shot.
• Tranquilizing Shot has had its cool-down reduced to 15 seconds from 20 seconds. It now removes frenzy and magic effects.
• Disengage has been redesigned. Instead of reducing threat, it now propels the hunter up to 13 yards backwards and has a 30 second cool-down.
• Distracting shot has been redesigned to act as a taunt, forcing the mob to focus on the hunter for 6 seconds.
• Kill Command now increases the damage done by your pet’s special attacks by 60%, with a 20% reduction for each hit.
• Mongoose Bite no longer requires the hunter to successfully dodge before being usable.
• Monster Slaying and Humanoid slaying have been combined into Improved Tracking
• Steady Shot now uses ammunition; its damage will be affected by the level of ammunition being used. Its cast time has also been increased to 2 seconds from 1.5 seconds.
• The arming time of all traps has been reduced to 1 second from 2 seconds.
• Wingclip no longer does damage.

Pet Changes

• Each pet family now has a unique ability. New abilities have been added to families that previously didn’t have a special ability.
• Two additional stable slots have been added so that a total of five pets can be maintained (four in the stable and one active).
• Pet families have been placed in one of three categories: tenacity, cunning and ferocity. Each pet will have its own talent tree (based on its category) which can be accessed from the talent panel. Pets earn their first talent point at level 20 and gain one point every four levels.
• Several abilities previously in the Beast Mastery tree have been reclassified as pet talents and are available in the pet talent tree.
• Each pet can learn growl, cower and either bite or claw (never both). Bite and claw are the focus dump abilities for pets.
• If a tamed pet would be more than five levels below the hunter’s level, that level will be increased to be five levels less than the hunter.
• Loyalty levels, training points and the Beast Training skill have all been removed. Pets now learn all skills at level and will automatically learn new ranks as they level.

Talents

• Beast Mastery
  
• Focused Fire (Tier 2, 3 ranks) now increases the critical strike chance of Kill Command by 10% per rank and can stack up to 3 times, but diminishes for each charge of Kill Command.
• Aspect Mastery (Tier 3, 1 rank) replaces Bestial Swiftness (See Below)
• Pathfinding (Tier 3, 2 ranks) now increases mounted movement speed by 5% per rank in addition to increasing the speed bonus of Aspect of the Pack and Aspect of the Cheetah by 4% per rank.
• Spirit Bond (Tier 5, 2 ranks) now increases healing done to the hunter and the hunter’s pet by 5% per rank in addition to the 1% per rank health regeneration for hunter & hunter’s pet
• Animal Handler (Tier 6, 2 ranks) no longer increases mounted speed. It now reduces the cool-down of your Master’s Call ability by 5 seconds per rank.
• Invigoriation, Added as a Tier 8, two rank skill (See Below)
• Longevity and Cobra Strikes added as Tier 9, three rank skills (See Below)


• Marksmanship
  
  • Improved Hunter’s Mark (Tier 2, 3 ranks) is completely re-designed. It now increases the attack power granted by your Hunter’s Mark by 10% per rank and reduces the mana cost by one-third per rank. The previous talent was 5 ranks and caused 20% per rank of the attack power bonus to apply to melee combat.
  • Improved Arcane Shot (Tier 3, 3 ranks) now increases damage from Arcane Shot by 5% per rank. Previously, it had 5 ranks and lowered the cool-down by 0.2 seconds per rank.
  • Rapid Killing (Tier 3, 2 ranks) no longer procs from Auto Shot, but does proc from Chimera Shot.
  • Improved Stings (Tier 4, 3 ranks) has been reduced from 5 ranks to 3 ranks, but the amount of damage done by Serpent & Wyvern Sting, the mana drained by Viper Sting and the reistance to dispel has been increased from 6% per rank to 10% per rank. (Provides the same effects for fewer talent points)
  • Readiness (Tier 5, 1 rank) has moved from the Survival Tree to the Marksmanship Tree. It replaces Scatter Shot, which has moved to the Survival Tree.
  • Concussive Barrage (Tier 5, 3 ranks) can now also proc from Volley and Multishot attacks. Previously this only was triggered by Auto Shot.
  • Combat Experience (Tier 6, 2 ranks) now grants 3% agility per rank up from 1%. The Intellect gain is unchanged.
  • Trueshot Aura (Tier 7, 1 rank) is now a raid-wide buff that increases melee and ranged attack power by 10%. This spell now only has one castable rank; all others have been removed.
  • Silencing Shot (Tier 9, 1 rank) will now interrupt the current spell being cast and lock out that school for 3 seconds if the target is immune to silencing effects.
  
  
• Survival
  
• Improved Tracking (Tier 1, 5 ranks) replaces Monster Slaying and Humanoid Slaying (both tier 1, 3 rank skills).
• Surefooted (Tier 2, 3 ranks) has moved from Tier 4.
• Survival Instincts (Tier 2, 2 ranks) has moved from Tier 5.
• Scatter Shot (Tier 3, 1 rank) has moved from the Marksmanship Tree to the Survival Tree.
• Deterrence (Tier 3, 1 rank) has had its cool-down reduced to 3 minutes from 5 minutes. This skill also increases your chance to resist spells by 60%. This is no longer a talent based skill, but trainable at level 60.
• Survival Tactics (Tier 3, 2 ranks) replaces Improved Feign Death In addition to lowering resistance to Feign Death, it also lowers chance that traps will be resisted by 2% per rank and lowers the cool-down of Disengage by 2 seconds per rank.
• Counterattack (Tier 5, 1 rank) has had its damage increased by 20%; this damage scales with the hunter’s ranged attack power.
• Master Tactician (Tier 8, 5 ranks) has had its chance to proc increased to 10% from 6%.
• Trap Mastery (Tier 9, 1 rank) is the renamed Clever Traps and moves from Tier 3 to Tier 9.

New Skills

• Aspect Mastery - Aspect of the Viper - Reduces the damage penalty by 10%.
• Aspect of the Monkey - Reduces the damage done to you while active by 5%.
• Aspect of the Hawk - Increases the attack power bonus by 30%.
• Beast Mastery - You master the art of Beast training, teaching you the ability to tame Exotic pets and increasing your total amount of Pet Skill Points by 4.
• Cobra Strikes - You have a 20/40/60% chance when you critically hit with Arcane Shot, Steady Shot or Kill Shot to cause your pet's next 2 special attacks to critically hit.
• Invigoration - When your pet scores a critical hit with a special ability, you have a 50/100% chance to instantly regenerate 1% mana.
• Kindred Spirits - Increases your pet's damage by 4/8/12/16/20% and you and your pet's movement speed by 2/4/6/810% while your pet is active. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
• Longevity - Reduces the cooldown of your Bestial Wrath, Intimidation and Pet Special Abilities by 10/20/30%.
• Chimera Shot - You deal 125% weapon damage, refreshing the current Sting on your target and triggering an effect:
• Serpent Sting - Instantly deals 40% of the damage done by your Serpent Sting.
• Viper Sting - Instantly restores mana to you equal to 60% of the total amount drained by your Viper Sting.
• Scorpid Sting - Attempts to Disarm the target for 10 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once per 1 minute.
• Focused Aim - Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Steady Shot by 23/46/70%, and increases your chance to hit by 1/2/3%.
• Improved Steady Shot - Your Steady Shot hits have a 5/10/15% chance to increase the damage done by your next Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot or Chimera Shot by 15%, and reduce the mana cost of your next Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot or Chimera Shot by 20%.
• Marked for Death - Increases your damage done by your shots and the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 1/2/3/4/5% on marked targets, and increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Aimed Shot, Steady Shot, Kill Shot or Chimera Shot by 2/4/6/8/10%.
• Piercing Shots - Your Steady Shot and Aimed Shot abilities ignore 2/4/6% of your target's armor.
• Rapid Recuperation - Reduces the mana and focus cost of all shots and abilities by you and your pet by 30/60% while under the effect of Rapid Fire, and you gain 1/2% of your mana every 2 sec for 6 sec when you gain Rapid Killing.
• Wild Quiver - You have a 4/7/10% chance to shoot an additional shot when doing damage with your auto shot, dealing 50% Nature damage. Wild Quiver consumes no ammo.
• Explosive Shot - You fire an explosive charge into the enemy target dealing 8% of your Ranged Attack power plus 238-286 fire damage. This charge will also blast the target each second for an additional 2 seconds. Each charge also deals one-quarter damage to all nearby enemies within 5 yards.
• Hunter vs. Wild - Increases you and your pet's attack power and ranged attack power equal to 10/20/30% of your total Stamina.
• Hunting Party - Your Arcane Shot, Explosive Shot and Steady Shot critical strikes have a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to grant up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 0.25% of the maximum mana per second. Lasts for 15 sec.
• Lock and Load - You have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target and a 2/4/6% chance when you deal periodic damage with your Serpent Sting to cause your next 2 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo.
• Noxious Stings - If Wyvern Sting is dispelled, the dispeller is also afflicted by Wyvern Sting lasting 16/25/50% of the duration remaining, and increases all damage done by you on targets afflicted by your Serpent Sting by 3%.
• Point of No Escape - Increases the critical strike chance of all attacks on targets affected by your Frost Trap, Freezing Trap and Freezing Arrow by 3/6%.
• Sniper Training - Increases the damage done by your Steady Shot, Aimed Shot and Explosive Shots by 2/4/6% if you are 30 yards or further from your target, and increases the critical strike chance of your Kill Shot ability by 5/10/15%.
• T.N.T. - Your Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Explosive Shot have a 5/10/15% to stun targets for 3 sec when they land, and increases the chance your Explosive Shot will critically hit by 3/6/9%.

I've not done any real building of various PVP/PVE specs. I'm still trying to work this out for myself. I hope this has helped, at least a little.