Freeranged
Legend
It has come to my attention that a lot of Horde hunters do not appreciate how easy it is to achieve hit cap at this level, or appreciate how important it can be. 5% hit is the Hunter cap as far as I'm aware (I do not believe that the NE 2% hit can be overcome by hit rating), and 11 hit rating gets you 5.08%. When considering that we encounter 24's very often in this bracket, my argument holds even more weight, and hit should be stacked accordingly.
But, as easy as it is to hit cap for horde hunters, they often neglect very useful items. This is primarily because they look at an item solely on what that single slot provides, and not by looking at entire item sets.
Take http://www.wowhead.com/item=1934 (Hogger's Trousers) for example. 102 armor 9 AGI, 9 hit.
Many balk at this item for its lack of STA, and instead choose to wear http://www.wowhead.com/item=5199 (Smelting Pants). You lose 18 armor, 1 AGI, and 9 hit in exchange for 4 STA and 4 crit. Pretty nice trade, right?
WRONG. By saving yourself the hit on the trousers, you can easily shift from the BoA leather hit items to the mail crit items.
http://www.wowhead.com/item=42950 (Champion's Herod Shoulders) provide 142 armor, 5 AGI, 7 STA, and 5 crit. http://www.wowhead.com/item=42952 (Stained Shadowcraft) provide 87 armor, 7 AGI, 4 STA, 4 hit.
Mail BoA + Hoggers = 244 armor, 14 AGI, 7 STA, 9 hit, 5 crit
Leather BoA + Smelting = 171 armor, 15 AGI, 8 STA, 4 crit, 4 hit.
The increased armor is just shy of 1.5% DR for a hunter in BiS, which if we consider has 1200 HP unbuffed is an effective health increase of nearly 2 STA. Ignoring that, would you still sacrifice 5 hit and 1 crit for 1 AGI and 1 STA?
But you didn't need the hit, because you are already there from the Shadowcraft Tunic, right? Again, shift that tunic to the Mail equivalent, and you gain more crit at the offset of nothing.
Mail BoA Shoulder + Chest + Hoggers = 433 armor, 21 AGI, 18 STA, 9 hit, 12 crit
Leather BoA Shoulder + Chest + Smelting = 287 armor, 22 AGI, 19 STA, 11 hit, 4 crit.
1 AGI, 1 STA, and 2 hit for 150 armor and 8 crit? No way! As a horde hunter, there is no reason not to use Hogger's Trousers.
But now you are just short of hit cap, rocking only 9 rating. How do I get to the magic number?
BiS ring, that's how.
http://www.wowhead.com/item=1491 (BiS Precision Ring)
With this ring, you max out the stats as such.
Mail BoA Shoulders + Chest + Hoggers + Precision = 433 armor, 27 AGI, 16 STA, 12 hit, 12 crit
Mail BoA Shoulders + Leather BoA Chest + Smelting + Citizen Wilke's Ring = 342 armor, 23 AGI, 23 STA, 7 hit, 9 crit
But what about weapons? I get my hit from http://www.wowhead.com/item=65675 (Stillwater's Dagger) and don't need all the excess hit from those trousers or the ring! Again, shift that Dagger to Wicked.
Mail BoA Shoulders + Chest + Hoggers + Precision + Wicked = 433 armor, 30 AGI, 19 STA, 12 hit, 16 crit.
Mail BoA Shoulders + Leather BoA Chest + Smelting + Citizen Wilke's Ring + Stillwater = 342 armor, 26 AGI, 25 STA, 10 hit, 9 crit.
That's right folks, Thirk (http://us.battle.net.../Thirk/advanced) chooses to lose 91 armor (2% DR), 4 AGI, 2 hit (putting him at .5% below hit cap) and 7 crit in exchange for 7 STA. He could argue that he values 7 STA far more than 91 armor, 4 AGI, 2 hit, and 7 crit because of flag running. But if this were the case, he would have already shifted his cape to the Stamina variant for 4 more STA at the cost of 4 AGI and 4 crit. But I don't buy it...and neither does he.
Bottom line, folks, is that Thirk isn't BiS, and never will be.
But you can be...just keep running BFD, and good luck!
But, as easy as it is to hit cap for horde hunters, they often neglect very useful items. This is primarily because they look at an item solely on what that single slot provides, and not by looking at entire item sets.
Take http://www.wowhead.com/item=1934 (Hogger's Trousers) for example. 102 armor 9 AGI, 9 hit.
Many balk at this item for its lack of STA, and instead choose to wear http://www.wowhead.com/item=5199 (Smelting Pants). You lose 18 armor, 1 AGI, and 9 hit in exchange for 4 STA and 4 crit. Pretty nice trade, right?
WRONG. By saving yourself the hit on the trousers, you can easily shift from the BoA leather hit items to the mail crit items.
http://www.wowhead.com/item=42950 (Champion's Herod Shoulders) provide 142 armor, 5 AGI, 7 STA, and 5 crit. http://www.wowhead.com/item=42952 (Stained Shadowcraft) provide 87 armor, 7 AGI, 4 STA, 4 hit.
Mail BoA + Hoggers = 244 armor, 14 AGI, 7 STA, 9 hit, 5 crit
Leather BoA + Smelting = 171 armor, 15 AGI, 8 STA, 4 crit, 4 hit.
The increased armor is just shy of 1.5% DR for a hunter in BiS, which if we consider has 1200 HP unbuffed is an effective health increase of nearly 2 STA. Ignoring that, would you still sacrifice 5 hit and 1 crit for 1 AGI and 1 STA?
But you didn't need the hit, because you are already there from the Shadowcraft Tunic, right? Again, shift that tunic to the Mail equivalent, and you gain more crit at the offset of nothing.
Mail BoA Shoulder + Chest + Hoggers = 433 armor, 21 AGI, 18 STA, 9 hit, 12 crit
Leather BoA Shoulder + Chest + Smelting = 287 armor, 22 AGI, 19 STA, 11 hit, 4 crit.
1 AGI, 1 STA, and 2 hit for 150 armor and 8 crit? No way! As a horde hunter, there is no reason not to use Hogger's Trousers.
But now you are just short of hit cap, rocking only 9 rating. How do I get to the magic number?
BiS ring, that's how.
http://www.wowhead.com/item=1491 (BiS Precision Ring)
With this ring, you max out the stats as such.
Mail BoA Shoulders + Chest + Hoggers + Precision = 433 armor, 27 AGI, 16 STA, 12 hit, 12 crit
Mail BoA Shoulders + Leather BoA Chest + Smelting + Citizen Wilke's Ring = 342 armor, 23 AGI, 23 STA, 7 hit, 9 crit
But what about weapons? I get my hit from http://www.wowhead.com/item=65675 (Stillwater's Dagger) and don't need all the excess hit from those trousers or the ring! Again, shift that Dagger to Wicked.
Mail BoA Shoulders + Chest + Hoggers + Precision + Wicked = 433 armor, 30 AGI, 19 STA, 12 hit, 16 crit.
Mail BoA Shoulders + Leather BoA Chest + Smelting + Citizen Wilke's Ring + Stillwater = 342 armor, 26 AGI, 25 STA, 10 hit, 9 crit.
That's right folks, Thirk (http://us.battle.net.../Thirk/advanced) chooses to lose 91 armor (2% DR), 4 AGI, 2 hit (putting him at .5% below hit cap) and 7 crit in exchange for 7 STA. He could argue that he values 7 STA far more than 91 armor, 4 AGI, 2 hit, and 7 crit because of flag running. But if this were the case, he would have already shifted his cape to the Stamina variant for 4 more STA at the cost of 4 AGI and 4 crit. But I don't buy it...and neither does he.
Bottom line, folks, is that Thirk isn't BiS, and never will be.
But you can be...just keep running BFD, and good luck!
