This is a guest post by Imjorman.
There are many issues currently being discussed that involve the hunter class: consumable ammo, glyphs, and other things of like nature. One aspect of playing a hunter, however, is sometimes often overlooked: the best scope to use.
Like all other issues in World of Warcraft, “best” is entirely relative. There are different glyphs and gems for PvP and PvE, and the scope debate is not any different. In addition to PvE and PvP, your current spec and gear build is also a determining factor in which item enhancement is correct for your character.
I’m going to start with a few basic assumptions, however:
- You are level 80
- You did not buy your toon, and therefore have a basic idea of how a hunter is played
- You have at least experienced both aspects of WOW, PvE and PvP, whether is be 5man and a few battlegrounds, or it may be teir 7.5 and 2k arena rating
What I’m going to do in this article is break down each spec and play type (PvE and PvP) and then I will give you MY recommendation on the scope to use. Please be advised, that I am no expert in this business and do not pretend to be. If you find that you disagree with my advice, please email me, I would love to discuss it 
Survival PvE
Seeing as how survival is the cool kid on the block at the moment for raiding and dungeons, I’ll start with that. If your like me, you take the current “raiding spec” and use that until it changes. Topping damage meters is what I like to do, so I’m a fan of this method.
So lets take a look at the scopes for the first time:
Hearseeker Scope: 40 crit rating. A very viable scope (actually, the current scope I have equipped) 40 critical strike= 0.87%
Now I know I said I have this scope equipped, but a survival hunter has plenty of agility from talents like Hunters Vs. Wild, Survival Instincts, and an occasional Master Tactician proc.
The lesser known Sun scope gives 40 haste, which is about 1.6 percent. Keep in mind, that haste cap is 10% and that makes your steady shots the length of the global cool down.
So here is my recommendation to survival PvE hunters:
If haste capped, I would say start stacking that agility/crit and get the Heartseeker. If lesser than haste cap, start working towards it with the Sun Scope.
Marksman PvE
Marksman seems to have always been the PvP spec for hunters, but also known as the “backup PvE” spec. The people who don’t really want to conform have came to marksman for slight relief. Marksman and survival, however are extremely similar when it comes to stat needs. Marksman focuses heavily on critical strike rating and attack power.
Without getting to wordy and reiterating what I have said above: If you are haste capped, go with the Critical strike scope. If there is more to be desired in the matter of haste, I would recommend getting the haste scope, because more steady shots=higher overall dps.
Beastmastery PVE
The much recently shunned spec for raiding, Beastmastery, is a completely different look and feel than the two specs above. Your individual damage will be significantly less, but your pet will be a killing machine.
My recommendation for a Beastmaster hunter is different than the two specs above me. Because your individual damage is rather insignificant in a raid, buffing your pet as much as possible would seem appropriate. Your pet derives its stats from you, this is most commonly known when dealing with hit rating.
Seeing as how your steady shots will do less damage than normal, and your pet will be doing more than normal, buffing your pet’s critical strikes would make the most since.
When you score a critical strike with the talent Cobra Strike your pet’s damage flies up. So, in theory anyway, more critical strikes = higher dps with a beastmaster raiding spec.
Also, raid dps increases with your pet’s increased critical strikes. With points in the talent Ferocious Inspiration, when your pet deals a critical strike, you increase raid dps by 1% for 10 seconds.
With points in Frenzy, your pet actually gains 30% haste buff when dealing a critical strike so the haste issues takes care of itself in this spec.
Also, Improved Aspect of the Hawk increases your ranged attack speed by 15% while dealing damage, so haste isn’t quite the issue with Beastmastery.
PvP
I have never been the PvP hunter, although I play on a PvP server. I don’t pretend to know much about the needs of PvP, so for this section of my article, I have consulted fellow hunters on the Official forums as well as a few hunters in my guild for information and opinions.
From what I have gathered, haste is rather useless in PvP. If a hunter ever gets the chance to stand still and pew pew, we can call it a lucky day. PvP, in my experiences anyway, is more about burst damage and kiting for us hunters.
Critical strikes are the best way to get your burst damage up. The 40 critical strike rating from the Heartseeker Scope is what every PvP hunter should be using, in my humble opinion.
So lets wrap this up…
As a final overview and review (for my friends who just want the answers and don’t want to read )
Survival PvE: If your not haste capped Sun Scope, to get in more steady shots into your rotation. Other wise, Heartseeker Scope ftw.
Marksmanship PvE: For the same reasons above, Sun Scope if not haste capped, and Heartseeker if you are.
Beastmaster PvE: Exactly opposite of the other two specs, Beastmaster talents provide haste based off of critical strikes, so Heartseeker Scope is my recommendation for the loyal Beastmaster fans.
PvP in general: For reasons of kiting and less time to pew pew, Hearseeker scope provides the burst damage every PVP player needs.
Please contact me! My email address is Gahannawrestler215@gmail.com please email me there if you disagree with my opinions or just want to discuss wow further
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Off topic, but…
Why, oh why, doesn’t Bliz introduce a +hit scope? It would be sooo useful. And it even makes perfect sense: a scope makes it easier for you to hit things. Heck, all scopes should have +hit.
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haha, your quite correct imo. critical strike and haste for guns seem to be more like enchants rather than scopes…but that would be to much logic for blizzard
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Biznicks 247×128 Accurascope how we miss you.
the only scope in the game with +hit.
30 hit rating for the price of several dozen runs of Molten Core and BRD for Lava Core (2), Essence of Earth (2), Delicate Arcanite Converter (4), Dark Iron Bar (6), Thorium Tube
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So… I’m a beastmastery hunter, and I just read that post. There doesn’t seem to be any indication of what scope to use for BM. Does it matter what I use?
I’m an engineer, so I can make some of those. Just want to know which one though.
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Whoops. Didn’t notice the wrap up. Sorry about that!
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I’m beast master too and I have been thinking about Biznicks 247×128 Accurascope but it is hard to obtain
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My boyfriend managed to pick up the Accurascope at level 70. If you think 30 hit is really worth it, you can probably find a way to get this scope… but there are much easier ways to come up with 30 hit by sacrificing a little crit or haste or AP, rather than sacrificing a LOT of time and gold! Whatever works for you though
I’d like more variety in scopes, personally.
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Haste Cap:
Not sure how you came to a Haste Cap of 10%. I believe it is actually just under 16% (assuming quiver of 15% already equiped).
1% Haste = 32.79 Haste Rating
523 Haste Rating = Steady Shot moved from 2 sec to 1.5 sec using the following formula: Steady Shot = 2.0 / ((1+(Item/100)/32.78998947)*(1+(Talent/100))*(1+(Quiver/100)))
523 / 32.79 = 15.95%
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Pingback: So Many Scopes, So Many Possibilites
@windchaser- The sources I looked at put haste cap around 10%, I guess in the future I’ll do have to do more fact checking with more than 2 or three sites
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here’s the information I found, backed up by a few other sources:
32.79 Haste Rating = 1% Haste (Check, this matches)
Steady Shot 2.0 -> 1.5 = 25% Haste required (So far so good)
25% Haste = 819.75 Haste Rating
Quiver 15% Haste = 491.85 Haste Rating (I think this is where we start to get different)
Steady Shot w/ Quiver 819.75-491.85 = 327.9
327.9/32.79= 10% haste
10% haste left to make up
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Understanding the Haste Cap was something that puzzled me for quite a while. I can completely understand the straight percentage additive solution (get 25% with 15% quiver + 10%); however, it’s just not that simple.
To quote BigRedKitty from Add is not Addition (www.bigredkitty.net/2008/12/16/add-is-not-addition/), “…Haste is not additive; it’s a product. The formula looks like this: …”
I appreciate you doing the research on the scopes… something I have not done. Seeing your 10% Haste number and realizing that the Haste Cap is a critical decision point for selecting the correct scope, I thought it best to comment with my understanding of the Haste theory. As with all things Blizzard, it is hard to know what is the true calculation.
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ah, your correct. couple more websites and forums later, i reached your answer. Like you said above, the recommendations is still the same for scopes regardless of the haste cap. I’m glad you weighed in, cause i learned a bit
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Correct me if I am wrong but it is my understanding that Steady Shot has become a filler shot weaved in only when your instants are all on cooldown (BM spec being the exception)making Haste a secondary concern at best and nowhere near as important as Critical Strike or hit percentages.
Seems to me that unless you are specced for BM the Heartseeker scope is superior in every regard.
just my.02
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Well everything in WOW is up for your own interpretation. Steady shot in Survival is what is used when explosive and aimed shot(if you use it) are on cool down. Explosive shot is on a six second cool down. A two second S.S. provides 3 of them, while a haste capped S.S. (1.5 sec.) provides 4.
In short, you get more dps from haste capped. And when specced BM, there is no need for haste as everything is included in the spec.
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^ holds true for all specs, if you can squeeze to steadies in where you used to be only able to pull one and then wait, your dps will increase
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