wow Hunters in Patch 9.2: A Tier Set and Legendary Evaluation

[Starym 3,776]

 

The 9.2 PTR is most likely coming this week, but we already know all the tier set bonuses and the fact that all classes will be able to equip two legendary powers come the new patch, so we poked our class writers to give us some insight into what things will look like! We're starting off with Hunters, as Azortharion takes us through all the relevant changes we know so far and what the mean for all three specs!

Azortharion:
These are only my semi-educated thoughts and musings for Patch 9.2. You can find Patch 9.2 sims on my patreon when those become doable (not for a while).

Double Legendaries

We can use double legendaries exclusively when combining a Covenant Legendary with a regular one. So Fragments of the Elder Antlers + Serpentstalker's Trickery becomes possible, but SST + Surging Shots will not be possible. This looks better for Night Fae because it has the strongest raid Covenant Legendary, while Kyrian's is very weak. It is also likely good for Venthyr, but it's hard to see Venthyr being super desirable because its damage profile is so poor (bursty profiles > flat profiles nearly all of the time). It is hard to imagine Necrolord being relevant even with its super-strong AoE Covenant Legendary.

From a spec balance PoV, this looks good for BM where Antlers is super-powered and Rylakstalker's Piercing Fangs is a strong all-rounder Legendary.

Tier Sets

Beast Mastery

2 - piece – Your Kill Command critical strike chance is increased for each stack of Frenzy your pet has.
4 - piece – Kill Command critical hits increase the damage and cooldown reduction of your next Cobra Shot.

The big downside of the Beast Mastery tier set is that both of the bonuses are basically completely single-target oriented. This does not bode well for a spec that lacks in the AoE (and especially burst AoE) department. It synergizes well with the Flamewaker's Cobra Sting Legendary and it is not inconceivable to imagine something like Flamewaker's + Tier Set Bonus + Killer Cobra (Level 60 Talent) which would enable many supercharged and free Kill Commands. But again this only benefits single-target which is disappointing.

Marskamsnship

2 - piece - Trick Shots now also increases the damage of the affected shot by 30%.
4 - piece - Spending 80 Focus grants you 2 charges of Trick Shots.

This is a very strong and exciting tier set. If you read the 2pc+4pc combination closely, you will quickly notice that this affects single-target and introduces relevant 2-target cleave to the spec and is a massive boost to AoE damage. Not only that, but it will make the rotation a lot more technical and will cause your GCD decisions to matter much more, as you will want to maximize the mileage you get out of the Trick Shots charges generated from the 4pc. This bonus HUGELY favors Kyrian MM, which is why it is a shame that Kyrian's Covenant Legendary is so mediocre. I hope the community will let their grievances about Pact of the Soulstalkers (the Kyrian Legendary) known to the designers, because Kyrian is likely going to be the meta regardless, and it would suck to be stuck playing an exceptionally boring but also bad Legendary.

Survival

2 - piece - When Kill Command resets, it has a 40% chance to make your next Wildfire Bomb incur no cooldown.
4 - piece - Your Wildfire Bombs deal 30% additional damage. This bonus is increased to 80% for bombs empowered by Mad Bombardier

The 2pc is an absolutely massive AoE and burst AoE boost to Survival. Mythic+ will be particularly fun with this set bonus combination, as you will be able to have your strong uncapped button deal extra damage and not trigger its cooldown. You'll basically become a Bombslinger. I expect this to push Wildfire Infusion to the top for single-target, effectively doing away with Birds of Prey-based builds, which is a massive quality of life boon to a spec that has long been hampered by the inflexibility of its best ST build, and its inability to do good AoE + single target simultaneously. It does mean that the net single target dps increase is a little weak, but that was never Survival's big weakness.

You can read more on Hunters in general in Azortharion's Beast Mastery, Marksmanship and Survival class guides, or check him out over on twitter or twitch!