Abilities | Glyphs

This is the bit where I serve as a Bad Example.

After the flurry of activity that was Level 15, I actually didn’t bother to train when I hit 16 and instead waited until I hit 18. Which was a mistake, because I passed over Aspect of the Cheetah, which would have cut back on my cursing about the lack of mounts. (The Barrens does that to people…)

Thus this post is more of a reference for what I should have done at this point.

Abilities

Hunters get three new abilities at level 16: one melee, one trap, and one travel boost. Since I’m deathly melee-allergic with this playstyle, this level wasn’t as useful as it might have been. But Aspect of the Cheetah more than makes up for it, since the Barrens are one giant headache of a ‘run here, now run there, now run back again.’ Arg.

Aspect of the Cheetah

The hunter takes on the aspects of a cheetah, increasing movement speed by 30%. If the hunter is struck, will be dazed for 4 sec. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.

Anything that makes me move faster when leveling has a high priority on my list (hence the talent build that includes Pathfinding). This boost does not work when mounted or swimming, although the description seems to imply otherwise.

The one drastic downside to this aspect is that you NEVER want it on in combat. Ever. The daze effect is 100% of the time when struck, from what I’ve been able to find online, and it drops you down to just below walking speed. This can be easily be lethal for hunters, who need to get out of melee range in order to fight effectively and doubly lethal for me and my dual-boxing learning curve.

Mongoose Bite

3% of base mana
Melee Range, Instant cast, 5 sec cooldown
Attack the enemy for [AP * 0.2 + 25] damage.

The key bit about this ability is, of course, the ‘Melee Range’. The only melee ability that is even close to showing up on my action bars is Wing Clip because it allows me to get back out of range while the pets call the mob’s mother nasty names. It does have the nice touch of being and instant that doesn’t trigger the global cool down, but I haven’t found a good place to macro it in yet. …Add to theses the fact that the ability is apparently not on the Cataclysm ‘keepers’ list and you can guess why I skipped it.

Immolation Trap

9% of base mana
Instant cast, 30 sec cooldown
Place a fire trap that will burn the first enemy to approach for [(RAP * 0.01 + 21) * ] Fire damage over 15 sec. Trap will exist for 30 sec. Only one trap can be active at a time.

Traps can be useful, in certain situations, but I prefer to work around traps that slow rather than damage. I didn’t bother trying to macro this into anything, simply because I couldn’t find a good fit for it in my playstyle. I know I’ll be using Freezing Traps and Frost Traps a little later down the line, but I can’t see a use for this one. Trap dancing and dual-boxing don’t make the best of friends at the moment…

Talents: Focused Fire, Improved Aspect of the Monkey, Thick Hide, Improved Revive Pet

Glyphs

Only one glyph this time and it’s focused on boosting the effects of the Immolation Trap.

Glyph of Immolation Trap – Pass

Decreases the duration of the effect from your Immolation Trap by 6 sec., but damage while active is increased by 100%.

I’m not going to be using the ability I’m not going to be swapping to a glyph that boosts said ability… unless I’m feeling sorry for the Inscriptionists/Scribes and feel like giving them free gold.