World of Warcraft

A
*I have finally updated the guide so it fits for patch 4.0.6. I might've missed something as I'm currently tired while doing this so please tell me if anything seems to be wrong!*

*Can't fit this into the macro section* You need to add another /stopcasting line to every macro I listed there that already has one line of /stopcasting (Silencing Shot etc).

Example
#showtooltip Silencing Shot
/stopcasting
/stopcasting
/cast Silencing Shot

Table of Content

A: MM Benefits, Shot Priorities, Burst info and popular hunter Team Compositions for arena

B: Gearing, Stat Priorities, Reforging, Spell Penetration and Socketing

C: Enchants, UI and Addons

D: Talents and Glyphs

E: Macros and Pets, Pet Talents (Picture of Pet Talents as a placeholder while Wowhead Pet Talent links are down).

This guide will cover up what enchants, gems, glyphs, talents and pets you should get, I suggest you read through it even if you find yourself to be an experienced hunter since alot have changed in cataclysm. This is for PVP, don't expect any of this to help PvE, for PvE survival would be the best choice by far.

Shot Priority

I usually open with a Serpent Sting on my current target, after that you cast Chimera Shot and follow that up with 2 Steady Shots, then you start looking for opportunities to use Aimed Shot, you should obviously use Chimera Shot as fast as you need some burst. Switching targets with low focus is not a good idea, however if you do so, serpent sting is usually best to leave out until you have a bigger focus pool to spend, even then it might be better to just Chimera and look for windows to use Aimed Shot. Widow Venom isn't worth it atm.

If anyone here have played a rogue i'm sure you're aware of the fact that you save up your energy before a burst, it's the same for hunters now. Spam steadies when there's around 4 or 5 seconds left on your chimera shot and then when you finally have that full focus bar, go Rapid Fire, Roar of Recovery, Chimera Shot > Aimed Shots. This paired up with damage from your partner will in almost all cases mean a kill with proper CC on the healer.

I see alot of hunters that are MM who uses Cobra Shot instead of Steady Shot, this isn't the right thing to do. You should be steadying pretty much all the time and look for opportunities to get Aimed Shots off.

Steady Shot 15% haste talent, this talent seems to be underestimated aswell. ALWAYS have this up when you're going to nuke something, this talent + rapid fire brings my Steady Shots down to a 1.2 sec cast time wich is really good for getting your focus bar up for a switch or just for nuking your target. It also makes your Master Marksman stack up extremely fast.


What team composition should I play as a hunter in arena right now?

Kung Fu Cleave is a very easy and good comp atm, it consists of a Resto Shaman, Arms Warrior and you as MM. Other healers works aswell.

PHD, Paladin Hunter DK. A great comp overall, you might find more success with other healers, every healer actually works in this comp.

HLD/HLP/HLS, Hunter Lock and a Healer, mainly Druid, Paladin or a Shaman. As all healers work out quite well in Cataclysm a priest might work well too. This is atleast a decent comp and should work to quite high ratings!

Hunter/Spriest/Healer, double dispel, great damage and CC. You might have a hard time to get a spriest for this tho as they usually want to play with Mages or Rogues in Cataclysms current state.

I wont write down any tacts for the comps, you should easily be able to find that on Arenajunkies or by Googling it.

B
Gearing

I see many questions that pop up regarding hunter gearing and what offpieces to actually get. If you'd look at my profile on armory you'd notice that i'm using 4/5 mainpieces and the engineering helm to maximize my offensive stats. Resilience in this expansion is hotter than ever, therefore we barely want to use PvE items, at all...


Bloodthirsty Gladiator's Badge of Conquest

Great trinket overall, on use for those moments when you really need more damage, if you are a Engineer you would want to get the Chance on hit one instead to pair it up with Synapse Springs on gloves (480 agil on use) every minute since it shares CD with on-use trinkets.

Another option for you if you happen to be exalted with Tol Barad would be the trinket wich gives you passive mastery and has an on use effect wich increases all your resistances by 400, this can be very good if you happen to encounter alot of spellcleaves, the best part is that the CD is only 1 minute long! Here it is Mirror of Broken Images

Offpieces you should be taking is the following

PvP Insignia with 301 resilience, not the crit version.
Bloodthirsty Gladiator's Medallion of Tenacity

Hit Bracers and Belt
Bloodthirsty Gladiator's Wristguards of Accuracy
Bloodthirsty Gladiator's Links of Accuracy

Crit Cloak and Boots
Bloodthirsty Gladiator's Cape of Cruelty
Bloodthirsty Gladiator's Sabatons of Cruelty

Mastery Neck
Bloodthirsty Gladiator's Necklace of Prowess

Both rings (one hit and one crit)
Bloodthirsty Gladiator's Ring of Accuracy
Bloodthirsty Gladiator's Ring of Cruelty


Doing this will cap your hit rating aswell as maximizing your crit, with no crit comes no pressure.

Stat priorities

The stat priority is Agility > Crit > Mastery > Haste

I see alot of hunters that are stacking haste, thinking the faster steadies/cobras will help their focus regen by alot aswell as giving them a good passive focus regen, this however is not the case. Haste scales awfully with hunter and you should not ever pick that stat above any of the stats I mentioned above.

What you want to maximize right now is crit, mastery is good but with the new patch out wich brought the damage of Chimera and Aimed shot up by quite a significant amount you now want to focus on crit and resil for those high critting Chimeras and Aimeds.

Reforging

Do not reforge: Cloak, Chest, Gloves, Belt, Boots, Crit Ring, Trinkets, Melee Weapon, or Ranged Weapon (all of these slots have either Crit or Hit already).
Helm: Reforge Mastery->Crit
Neck: Reforge Mastery->Crit
Shoulders: Reforge Haste->Crit
Legs: Reforge Haste->Hit
Wrist: Reforge Hit->Crit
Hit Ring: Reforge Hit->Crit

And magically, you will have exactly 5.00% Hit (600 rating).

All credit goes to Russet on Arenajunkies for this reforging. (NOTE: REQUIRES FULL VICIOUS).

Spell Penetration

Just as in WOTLK we need spell Penetration, since I am not a JC I went for 70 spell pen on cloak and then 50 Spell Pen in the blue slots of Gloves, Belt and Legs, this brings you up to a spell pen level of 220 (240 being the maximum a mage can achieve, ultimately you'd want to go for 195 tho for paladin auras and whatnot).

Socketing

These gems are geared towards full resil.
Meta Gem: Agile Shadowspirit Diamond (54 Agility/3% Crit Damage),
Red Slots: 3x Lucent Ember Topaz (20 Agi/20 Resil).
Yellow Slots: 3x Mystic Amberjewel (40 Resil).
Blue Slots: 2x Stormy Ocean Sapphire, 1x Vivid Dream Emerald.
Prismatic Belt Buckle Slot: 1x Mystic Amberjewel (40 Resil)


Alternate Gemming Method:
These gems lose 160 Resil and gain 160 Agi compared to the standard method.
Meta Gem: Agile Shadowspirit Diamond (54 Agility/3% Crit Damage) (poor man's alternative)
Red Slots: 3x Delicate Inferno Ruby (40 Agi).
Yellow Slots: 3x Lucent Ember Topaz (20 Agi/20 Resil).
Blue Slots: 2x Stormy Ocean Sapphire, 1x Vivid Dream Emerald.
Prismatic Belt Buckle Slot: 1x Delicate Inferno Ruby (40 Agi).

Credit goes to Russet on AJ for this aswell.

C
Enchants

Helm: http://www.wowhead.com/item=68769

Costs 1000 Honor at the Honor Quartmermasters or 40 Tol Barad commendations.

Shoulders: http://www.wowhead.com/item=68774

50 Agility 25 Resilience, costs 80 Tol Barad commendations or 2000 honor at the Honor Quartmermaster.

Cloak: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74192

+70 Spell Penetration, you'll need this enchant to cap your spell pen.

Chest: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74214

Resilence, you'll need it.

Bracers: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=96264

+50 Agility, simply the best we can get.

Gloves: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74255

+65 Mastery. Same as with gloves, this one is your best bet but then again there is +50 Mastery (http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74132) wich I once again went with for my blue pair of gloves.

Belt: http://www.wowhead.com/item=55054

Ebonsteel Belt Buckle, the new Belt Buckle in Cataclysm, I advice you to buy the mats and get a Blacksmith to craft this for you instead of buying it straight off the Auction House, it's usually up for ridicolously high prices there whereas the mats are quite cheap. Chuck a 40 agility or 40resilience socket into the slot.

Legs: http://www.wowhead.com/item=56550

Dragonscale Leg Armor (190 Attack Power and 50 Critical Strike Rating). The mats for this one was really cheap on my server whereas the actual item on the Auction House is 1000gold+. Just as the Belt Buckle I advice you to buy the raw mats and get a Leatherworker to craft it for you.

Boots: http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74252

Assassin's Step; run speed and agility!

Two Handed Weapon: http://www.wowhead.com/item=55057

Pyrium Weapon Chain, gives you hit rating and 50% less disarm duration, simply the new Titanium Weapon Chain.

Ranged Weapon: http://www.wowhead.com/item=59594

Gnomish X-Ray Scope, a chance to proc 800 Ranged Attack Power for 10 seconds, currently the best ranged weapon scope and it's really cheap on the Auction House.


UI

http://img3.imageshack.us/f/hunteruiu.jpg/

After having some requests of my UI I decided to upload it, before you try to flame me about my keybinds you should be aware of a few things, I have most of the stuff macrod as in 2 abilities in 1 bar slot, (with shift modifiers and whatnot), I am using a G15 Keyboard wich means I have some side buttons wich I use with my little finger (they display as F9 and F12 on the bars)

My greatest tip I can give to you is to not try to copy the keybinds I have, it will most likely just ruin your own gameplay, try to set up keybinds according to what you like personally, and don't have TOO many keybinds, I have ~70-80 binds atm and I feel comfortable with them, however you may not so don't start out with too many, just try to get more and more once you start feeling comfortable with your current ones.

Addons

Addons with their text bolded are main ddons
Addons with italic font are sub addons

Bartender 4
ButtonFacade: Caith

Cooldowns 1.2.8
CooldownWatch
CooldownWatchConfig

Tidy Plates
Tidy Plates: Clean Plates

Gladius

Littletrouble -Ace2-

Quartz

SnowfallKeypress

D
Talents

Currently i'm 0/31/10 (http://www.wowhead.com/talent#cZfzGRhRMuroIMM) and I find it to be good, I see some people picking up 1 point in Resistance is Futile. I don't find that talent very useful myself so I decided to skip it, personal preference I guess.

Glyphs

Prime Glyphs

Glyph of Steady Shot, gives your steady shot 10% more damage, nice and simple.

Glyph of Arcane Shot, 12% more damage for Arcane Shot, great for your bursts.

Glyph of Chimera Shot, reduces your cooldown of Chimera Shot by 1 Second. I find this one great simply because it adds up in the long run, however you might want to go for the Kill Shot glyph instead wich lets you Kill Shot once again if your target does not die from the first one.

Major Glyphs

Glyph of Master's Call, increases the duration of your Master's Call by 4 seconds (a total of 8 second duration)

Glyph of Disengage, reduces the cooldown of your disengage by 5 seconds. This simply helps your kiting by alot

Glyph of Raptor Strike, Reduces damage taken by 20% for 5 seconds after using Raptor Strike. This is probably the best hunter Glyph atm IF you can use it properly, you can have it up nearly all the time versus classes with pets wich will help your healer by ALOT. It procs even if your Raptor Strike gets parried/dodged or misses.

Minor Glyphs

Glyph of Feign Death, reduces the cooldown of your Feign Death by 5 seconds. Simply a very useful and great glyph even tho it's a minor one

Glyph of Scare Beast, reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Scare Beast by 75%. This is a great talent when you need to get those Scare Beasts off fast on a Feral Druid or a Hunter Pet so he can't Roar of Sacrifice his teammates

Glyph of Mend Pet, your mend pet increases your pet's happiness slightly. Not a needed glyph but I don't ever buy food for my pet so this one allows you to keep it happy at all times.

E
Macros

The macros I use are pretty standard, alot of stopcasting ones now that fox is implemented so I don't end up not being able to deterrence, disengage or silence in the middle of a steady shot!

If you want to create any macros of your own, pick the questionmark as icon and start off the macro with the following, remove the * marks in the actual macro.

#showtooltip *named spell*

Now, in all important abilities wich would be of urgent use you should add /stopcasting to, generally after the showtooltip. For example if i'd want a Silence Shot macro it'd look like this

#showtooltip Silencing Shot
/stopcasting
/cast Silencing Shot

If you want it to hit your focus target you simply add [target=focus] between the /cast and the named spell, like this

#showtooltip Silencing Shot
/stopcasting
/cast [target=focus] Silencing Shot

Here are the most needed macros for hunter pvp

Macros for your current target

#showtooltip Silencing Shot
/stopcasting
/cast Silencing Shot

#showtooltip Scatter Shot
/stopcasting
/cast Scatter Shot

#showtooltip Kill Shot
/stopcasting
/cast Kill Shot
/use 10

The Kill Shot macro above has an included use of whatever engineer glove enchant you might have, the number of 10 represents the item slot, in this case gloves.

Macros for your focus target

#showtooltip Silencing Shot
/stopcasting
/cast [target=focus] Silencing Shot

#showtooltip Scatter Shot
/stopcasting
/cast [target=focus] Scatter Shot

#showtooltip Wyvern Sting
/stopcasting
/cast [target=focus] Wyvern Sting

Obviously the one above would not be used as MM, thought i'd add it anyway for people who might play survival now and then.

You might want to make some of those mouseovers instead, however I don't find myself comfortable with having any of the above on mouseovers so I just use focus ones for the above spells.

Macros that will save your life instead of making you hit your desk in rage after not being able to cast Feign Death when a lock is charging up a Chaos Bolt at you while you're casting Steady/Cobra Shot with Fox on

#showtooltip Feign Death
/stopcasting
/petfollow
/petpassive
/cast Feign Death

I include petfollow/petpassive in the above macro so that it will actually bring me out of combat for eventual mounting/eating when Feign Death is cast, this way you don't have to use your pet follow keybind before you Feign Death, I advice you to remove the petfollow and petpassive commands if you don't feel comfortable with your petattack bind.

#showtooltip Deterrence
/stopcasting
/cast Deterrence

#showtooltip Shadowmeld
/stopcasting
/cast Shadowmeld

Macros to get out of Hand of Protection and Deterrence faster than right clicking the buff

#showtooltip Arcane Shot
/cancelaura Deterrence
/cancelaura Hand of Protection
/cast Arcane Shot

When you press the above macro you will remove Hand of Protection or Deterrence from you so you can once again start attacking, if you have both on it will remove both ofcourse, you can change Arcane Shot to any other shot you want if you feel uncomfortable with having Arcane Shot as your bind for this

Macros to help your teammates/yourself easier

#showtooltip Roar of Sacrifice
/cast [target=player] Roar of Sacrifice

This one will simply Roar of Sacrifice yourself even if you have a friendly target.

#showtooltip Roar of Sacrifice
/cast [target=mouseover] Roar of Sacrifice

Mouseover your teammates and press your bind, you can mouseover party frames and it'll work aswell

#showtooltip Master's Call
/petpassive
/cast Master's Call

This one will make your pet run back to you to quickly give you that freedom that you need

#showtooltip Master's Call
/cast [target=mouseover] Master's Call

Just as the Roar of Sacrifice macro, but with Master's Call

Raptor Strike Macro

#showtooltip Raptor Strike
/console targetNearestDistance 5
/targetenemy [nodead, harm]
/cast Raptor Strike
/targetlasttarget
/console targetNearestDistance 41

Casts Raptor Strike on your nearest target without losing your current one, thanks to Névian for this.


Pets

You can switch pets in combat etc, this can be a good idea in arenas aswell.

Mainly I'd go with a spider pet, it has a Web ability on a 40 second cooldown wich roots the target for 4 seconds. It's great for both defensive and offensive purposes.

What you also want is a monkey, you can get this inside The Deadmines (normal mode aswell). The monkey have an ability called Bad Manner, it disorients a target for 4 seconds with a 1 minute cooldown. It's got a 0.5 sec cast time so be sure to cast it a short time before you actually need it to land, it also has a range of 20 yards.

Pet Talents
http://img507.imageshack.us/i/pettalents.jpg/