Simming is the only way to answer the question of “should I wear X or Y?” Gear guides can tell you what to pursue, but simming is the end all for making the best of what you have. For ally hunters, Skinnay already has a list of simmed gear sets.
Its notable that stat priorities change depending on your faction and rotation. Alliance members will favor stats like Agi which are increased by kings and weavers will take notably worse weapons for ranged DPS so that their raptor strikes hit harder.
The T2 8 piece set bonus debuff has a proc rate of .5 ppm. It takes up a debuff slot per proc; if multiple procs overlap, it takes up multiple debuff slots. though this doesn’t matter in SoM. Each hunter wearing T2 in a raid slightly increases every other hunters DPS.
Hunter’s ranged weapons are poorly described by tooltips. DPS numbers are often misleading as slower weapons will do much better damage than faster ones. Below is a list of hunter weapons tiered by their DPS for a tier 2 MM hunter and whether the weapons should be clipped. Please be informed– it is not worth taking a Striker’s Mark or something similar from a melee when a blue dungeon weapon is better. Pre-raid BiS options in bold.
| Weapon | AS | Best DPS | Worst DPS | Auto DPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nerubian Slavemaker | 3.2 | 599, Full | 503, Clipped | 304 (1st) |
| Ashjre’thul | 3.4 | 571, Full | 491, Clipped | 283 (9th) |
| Larvae of the Great Worm | 3.0 | 558, Clipped | 530, Full | 290 (3rd) |
| Soulstring | 2.9 | 551, Clipped | 534, Full | 293 (2nd) |
| Crossbow of Imminent Doom | 3.1 | 547, Clipped | 507, Full | 276 (13th) |
| Rank 14 Weapons | 2.9 | 538, Clipped | 521, Full | 285 (8th) |
| Rhok’delar | 2.9 | 534, Clipped | 517, Full | 282 (10th) |
| Fahrad’s Reloading Repeater | 3.2 | 530, Full | 447, Clipped | 261 (22nd) |
| Bloodseeker | 3.3 | 528, Full | 451, Clipped | 259 (23th) |
| Huhuran’s Stinger | 2.7 | 525, Full | 517, Clipped | 286 (6th) |
| Blessed Qiraji Musket | 2.6 | 525, Full | 506, Clipped | 286 (6th) |
| Carapace Spine Crossbow | 3.3 | 523, Full | 447, Clipped | 257 (26th) |
| Dragonbreath Hand Cannon | 2.8 | 521, Clipped | 516, Full | 281 (11th) |
| Heartstriker | 2.6 | 516, Full | 498, Clipped | 280 (12th) |
| Flawless Arcanite Rifle | 3.0 | 510, Clipped | 482, Full | 233 (28th) |
| Striker’s Mark | 2.5 | 509, Full | 480, Clipped | 274 (14th) |
| Gurubashi Dwarf Destroyer | 2.8 | 508, Clipped | 503, Full | 272 (16th) |
| Blastershot Launcher | 2.6 | 508, Full | 491, Clipped | 274 (14th) |
| Toxin Injector | 2.0 | 503, Clipped | 498, Full | 290 (3rd) |
| Core Marksman Rifle | 2.5 | 503, Full | 474, Clipped | 270 (18th) |
| Mandokir’s Sting | 2.6 | 502, Full | 484, Clipped | 270 (18th) |
| Hoodoo Hunting Bow | 2.8 | 499, Clipped | 493, Full | 265 (20th) |
| Stoneshatter | 2.9 | 499, Clipped | 482, Full | 258 (25th) |
| Silithid Husked Launcher | 2.8 | 496, Clipped | 490, Full | 263 (21st) |
| Bow of Taut Sinew | 2.2 | 496, Full | 445, Clipped | 272 (16th) |
| Grand Marshal’s Bullseye / High Warlord’s Recurve | 1.8 | 494, Full | 470, Clipped | 287 (5th) |
| Ancient Bone Bow | 2.8 | 490, Clipped | 484, Full | 259 (23rd) |
| Gryphonwing Longbow | 2.7 | 477, Full | 473, Clipped | 254 (27th) |