The 4.0 Guide

Disclaimer: This guide is a guideline. Do not treat anything you find here as the only and absolute truth. Also due to the lack of a lot of information and testing, most of the stated things are subject to change and can differ based on personal preference.

I wrote this guide because nobody else seemed to have done it yet. And with 4.0 drawing this close a lot of hunters are seeking for some advise.
This guide is meant to address the basic changes and provide basic information. For in-dept discussion I would refer you to the Elitist Jerks topics about cataclysm which are a better place. That is where I and a lot of other (often more knowledgeable) people can help you out with technical questions / comments / suggestions.

My information is gained from a lot of lot of different sources, if you feel entitled to credit on certain information, let me know and I’ll credit you.

If this guide contains any error or is unclear in one way or another, please let me know.


Basic and Mechanical changes in 4.0 and beyond

(Credit to Asuras on the MMO hunter forums for his compilation which I shamelessly copied and edited to my own believes :P)

• All ArP gems becomes Yellow Crit. gems.

- All ArP on gear will convert to either Haste or Crit.
- If you have Haste + ArP on your gear, Arp becomes crit (60 ArP becomes 60 Crit.).
- If you have Crit. + ArP on your gear, Arp becomes haste (60 ArP becomes 60 Haste).

• All AP from gear is removed.

- Agility remains the same, however you now get 2 AP per 1 Agility (have yet to confirm but I am 90% sure).
- More Stamina is gained in general; differences between health across classes is decreased.

• Ammo is removed!

- Ranged Weapon Damage Increased to compensate!

• No More 3% hit talent, so we must now gem/enchant/reforge to cap. The cap is 246 (8% Hit Rating) at level 80. (Hit rating scaling changed at level 80 !)

• Mail Specialization - Increases your Agility by 5% while wearing Mail in all armor slots.

- Say no to leather.


• All Serpent Sting can now crit on its own!

• Haste contributes to our Focus regen at a rate of 1% increased regen per 1% haste

• Hit Rating gems are now Blue.

- Which means the Glinting Cut (Agi+Hit) is purple now.
- Nightmare Tear will no longer be logical to use, since we only benefit from Agility.


• No Mastery Cut (will be Yellow Gem) till level 85.

• Reforging will be available when 4.0.1 hits!

- Whether reforging mastery is worthwile depends a lot on the spec and the value of mastery in 4.0 (as of yet unknown).
- You can reforge 40% of one non-primary stats to another.


• All pets are further normalized.
• Hunter pets can providing Full Raid buffs such as Kings, Fort, Blood Lust, etc..depending on Pet family.

- So you can pick whichever pet you want or whatever raid buff the raid needs.


• No Cobra Shot yet (level 81), so BM and SV dps might be effected.

• Hunters now have a 1 second GCD instead of a 1.5 second GCD; just like rogues and cat druids.

• The 15% quiver haste bonus is also removed..