For a Hunter, Attack Power increases the damage of your hits and crits. Crit chance increases frequency of crits. Both stats become more valuable as the other stat improves. 1% Crit means more at 2000 AP than at 1500 AP. Many Hunters have trouble seeing both directions at first. This misunderstanding can make those with high AP continue to favor AP or those with really high Crit continue to favor Crit.
   Given that the current stats and talents for you, telling which combination of AP and Crit is best can be hard. Use of a spreadsheet like the one linked at the end of this guide is essential for making the most of your gear and maximizing DPS.
AP is the stat that makes individual hits and crits show big numbers. The exact contribution of it for any particular attack varies by that attack's formula.
Crit stat increases frequency of crits, not damage done by individual crits. Untalented, crits deal double damage compared to normal hits. With 5/5 Mortal Shots, they deal 2.3 times normal damage. Improved Tracking, Noxious Stings and Focused Fire all add to normal damage and crit damage as well. The Relentless Earthsiege Diamond metagem adds 3% crit damage
Agility is good for ranged damage because it adds to both AP and Crit simultaneously, taking advantage of the synergy between those stats. Survival Hunters gain an extra 15% total Agility from Lightning Reflexes and 1/4 of total Agility becomes Attack Power for SV hunters and their pets when Expose Weakness is up.
In TBC, Hunters typically socketed agility gems over any other sort, figuring that raw agility was a DPS increase over socket bonuses or the advantages of attack power. In Wrath of the Lich King, the situation has reversed. The addition of raid-wide +10% AP buffs has made AP gems the new standbys. Survival Hunters will still find Agility gems to be better.
Haste doesn't change the damage done by individual Shots. When a Shot's formula calls for ranged weapon speed, it's asking for the unchanging speed listed on that weapon's tool-tip. Haste reduces the time between Auto Shots and the cast time of Steady Shot. Divide current time by 1 + Haste to find the new time.
If reaching hit-cap is a PvE Hunter's first priority, then reaching the haste "soft-cap" should be their second!
The Haste soft-cap is the amount of haste required to reduce the cast time of Steady Shot from the base 2.0 seconds to the Global cool-down of 1.5 seconds.
Multiple Haste effects are multiplied together. HR from gear is added together, converted to a percent, and used as a single Haste effect to be multiplied with the other Haste effects. Let's apply Serpent's Swiftness, Rapid Fire and Improved Aspect of the Hawk to that same 2.0 sec cast:
Through some fairly simple math, we see that BM Hunters are soft-capped right out of the box with 5/5 Serpent's Swiftness and a +15% quiver. However, MM and SV Hunters have a 15% quiver and no talents, so they require 523 Haste to soft-cap.
   For Intellect, each point of it adds 15 to mana capacity, and 1 AP with 3/3 Careful Aim.
Stamina adds to health and is modified by the Tauren racial and the talent Endurance Training). The talent Survivalist adds +2% Stamina per rank, and is required for the talent Hunter Versus Wild, which turns stamina in AP for the Hunter and pet.
   Magical Resistances reduces damage from a school of magic by a certain percent. Your raid leaders should let you know about any resistance expectations.
MP5, Spell Power and Spirit are effectively useless for Hunters and are not worth stacking.

Previous: Null Previous

Next: Shaman Character Class Overview