L70 Hunter PvP Starter Kit

Whether you’re new to level 70, or just new to the PvP scene, there are certain things you’re going to need to have, and know, in order to survive. PvP isn’t just about stacking Stamina anymore. These days, it’s all about resilience. Walking into the arenas, or even just the battlegrounds, in your quest/instance blues or Karazhan epics just won’t cut it anymore. You’ll get eaten alive by all the folks who have been at it a whole lot longer than you, and you’ll quickly find yourself gnashing your teeth and wondering why you ever wanted to PvP in the first place. Thankfully, with some of the recent changes made in 2.4, it’s become a lot smoother to wade into the shark-infested waters of the PvP world.

Lets start off nice and easy, with some blue armor you can pick up from your friendly neighborhood Quartermasters. I’m now very close to having my third 70, and on all three toons, I’ve found it pretty easy to work my way to Honored with all of the Outland factions while questing and running dungeons, so this gear should be relatively easy for even newly-minted 70s to acquire.

Stalker’s Chain Battlegear
This is a 5-piece armor set purchasable from various Outland factions at level 70. (It looks like the Beast Lord set, if you’re curious.) The set consists of: chest, gloves, helm, pants and shoulders. The 2-piece set bonus awards +35 resilience rating; the 4-piece bonus reduces your Concussive Shot cooldown by 1 second. 3 of the 5 pieces have two sockets each (set total: 1 meta, 4 red, 2 yellow). With all 5 pieces, you end up with +121 Resilience Rating before gems and/or enchants, which is an excellent start.

• [item]35376[/item] – Keepers of Time (Honored)
• [item]35377[/item] – Thrallmar/Honor Hold (Honored)
• [item]35378[/item] – Lower City (Honored)
• [item]35379[/item] – Cenarion Expedition (Honored)
• [item]35380[/item] – The Sha’tar (Honored)

Once you have these pieces, you’ll want to spruce them up with some gems and enchants. Here’s a shopping list of some PvP-appropriate gems you may want to pick up:

• [item]25896[/item] – Crafted
• [item]32640[/item] – Vendor
• [item]25896[/item] – Crafted
• [item]24055[/item] – Crafted
• [item]31863[/item] – Crafted
• [item]32634[/item] – Vendor
• [item]31868[/item] – Crafted
• [item]32637[/item] – Vendor
• [item]24031[/item] – Crafted
• [item]28361[/item] – Vendor
• [item]24028[/item] – Crafted
• [item]24061[/item] – Crafted
• [item]24067[/item] – Crafted
• [item]33782[/item] – Crafted
• [item]27809[/item] – Vendor

Choose from the list above whichever gems you feel will best augment your spec, and fill in any stat-gaps presented by the PvP gear you’re picking up. If you feel you’re low on Attack Power, use gems that provide AP. If you’re low on Crit, go for gems with +Crit on them, etc. Keep in mind, however, that PvP is different from PvE in that you’re looking to increase your survivability before increasing your damage output. Dead hunters do no damage! So, first and foremost, look for gems with more Stamina and/or Resilience on them to help increase your chances for survival, and then look for dps stats second. (This is precisely why many folks frown on using PvP gear for PvE. PvP gear is itemized differently–it’s built for survivability first and damage output second, which makes it great for PvE tanking in some cases, but not so much for dps.)

Many of the above gems also have Uncommon (rather than Rare) versions that provide lower stats, but are also available for much cheaper on the AH if you’re not a Jewelcrafter, so if you’re not quite willing to fork out the gold for the Rare gems, go for the green ones instead. Especially if you eventually plan to replace your PvP Blues with PvP Epics! (A great place to research gems is the WoW Gem Finder. You can sort results by socket color and/or desired stats to find just what you need.)

If you’re looking to get your shiny new PvP gear enchanted, there are a ton of options available to you. Here, you can choose to continue stacking Stamina and/or Resilience, or you can augment your damage stats to boost your burst damage and rip your opponents apart that much faster. If you’re looking for enchants to augment damage stats, you can check out my previous article on enchants. However, if you’re going for pure PvP goodness, you’ll want to keep stacking Stamina and/or Resilience instead. In which case, you’ll want to consider the following enchants:

• Head: [item]29193[/item] – Shattered Sun Offensive (Revered)
• Chest: Major Resilience
• Wrist: Fortitude
• Hands: [item]34330[/item]
• Legs: [item]29534[/item] or [item]29536[/item]
• Feet: Surefooted, Boar’s Speed, Fortitude

There’s plenty more to surviving in PvP than just gear, but this is at least a good starting point. Having even just a little Resilience will make PvP a lot more tolerable. (Getting one-shotted constantly isn’t exactly great for the self-esteem…) In a follow up article, I’ll be talking more about PvP techniques for Battlegrounds and Arenas, tips for dealing with certain classes 1-on-1, PvP aspects of hunter talent builds, and some interface enhancements to give you that extra edge!