- Author: Jamielolx
- Date: July 14, 2022
- Updated: February 19, 2023
- Expansion: WotLK Classic
Besides your gear and talents, there are 3 additional ways you as a player can increase your character’s power: gems, enchants, and consumables, which make your character significantly more powerful when combined correctly. Many guilds and raid groups may not invite you at all if you don’t have the correct gems, enchants, and consumables especially when you’re playing a non-meta spec, but worry not! This guide will help you avoid that problem.
Gems
This is the only viable option. since 1 Agility > 1 Crit and a crit version of the same meta is your only other option!
As an alternative, you can use Delicate Scarlet Ruby if you don’t want to commit fully to Beast mastery. Bright Scarlet Ruby is better, but not by much. You can and should use these gems in different color sockets as well if the socket bonus isn’t very beneficial.
You can use these if you need Hit cap but cant get it somewhere from your gear. or if you have a very good socket bonus! (+8 Attack Power socket bonus or 5 Crit + 5 Agility respectively)
[enchanted tear] will activate your meta socket as it counts for every of the required color of gem slots.
Enchants
Really easy to get, an alternative should not be needed. Note that this requires Revered with Knights of the Ebon Blade.
This requires Exalted with the Sons of Hodir, so if you can’t get it in time, you can use Wintergrasp enchant if you can’t get sons of hodir exalted in time instead.
this is the highest agility cloak available for you. – which is the best available stat when it comes to cloak
Alternative: Super stats if you can’t afford it
Is your best primary stat and has the highest amount of it.
+20 Hit is a good alternative if Hit rating is needed but you really don’t want to be enchanting for hit unless it is a last resort.
Hit is most efficient in order from gear > gems > enchants.
the only option for belt in the game.
Your only pants option.
Your best stat and the highest amount of the stat.
Only for enchanters – non enchanters cannot put any enchant on their rings.
Don’t get one-handers as BM, they usually have way less Attack Power – Don’t get Scourgebane either, it’s fine on other specs but doesn’t scale with the pet, this makes it awful for BM.
Consumables
There is no viable alternative
This is your best and cheapest option.
Your best Potion will be Potion of Speed. Potion of Wild Magic may potentially be better in later Phases, but as of Phase 2 you will only need to worry about Potion of Speed.
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About the Author
A correction here, potion of speed is better than wild magic unless you are using mirror of truth.
Is this true? All haste does for BM is speed up auto attack though.
Correct, it is the same for MM and a particular survival build that takes IAOTH.
critting obviously becomes even less important if you go 2/5 into mortal shots in favour of trap weaving.
This may be subject to change during P3 when your serpent sting is also able to crit however, bigger deal for MM as they can keep that crit rolling through chimera shot refresh
Forgive me if I’m misunderstanding something, but why would a hunter choose potion of wild magic at all? I thought hunters didn’t benefit from spellpower in wotlk.
That is because traditionally CRIT > HASTE by a large margin, however we are not at that point yet according to simulation tools, so you are correct at saying speed pots are better than potions of wild magic atm, esp when we are using trap weaving build with only 2/5 mortal shots.
Tier 9 brings a set bonus that makes your serpent sting also able to crit which is why Marksman will use it, and Survival will likely use it as well once they have higher amounts of gear and use an IAOTH build, when it comes to BM I am not sure – but am expecting 500 haste to remain better than 200 CRIT for single target using a trapweave build, but this may not be the case with later itemlevels of gear, you would have to sim it to be sure.
And you are correct in saying that spellpower doesn’t do anything – but thats not what the pot is utilised for it is purely for the crit.
Often neglected is that Wild Magic increases your Critical rating by 200, not just your Spell Power.