WoW Forever Hunter changes: October 15 update

The October 15 WoW Forever beta build changed Hunter controls, traps, pet stat inheritance, three pet abilities, and several talents. The pet nerfs are only part of the update: Auto Shot now needs a brief stop, Fire and Ice Traps can coexist, and pets now use the higher of your melee or ranged critical strike chance.

Read Blizzard's October 15 beta development notes for the full build notes.

Which Hunter pet abilities changed on October 15?

Blizzard reduced the control or uptime of Dismember, Sonic Blast, and Mine!. The table shows what actually changed.

Crocolisks still bring healing reduction, bats still make casting slower, and birds of prey still disarm. Their windows are shorter and their cooldowns are longer. The October 15 notes did not change the damage figures for these abilities.

The current top-rank tooltip for Dismember also lists 50 to 58 damage and a 35-focus cost. Sonic Blast still increases spell casting time by 30% for 20 seconds. Mine! still has its disarm, with its stored top-rank tooltip listing 41 to 47 damage for 20 focus. Those tooltip figures are separate from the nerfs above.

How did Hunter pets change besides the ability nerfs?

Pets now correctly benefit from the Hunter's Expertise. They also now inherit whichever critical strike chance is higher: melee or ranged. Before this build, pets always used the Hunter's melee critical strike chance, even when the ranged value was higher.

That is a fix, not a new scaling system. It means a ranged Hunter should no longer lose pet critical strike chance just because melee critical strike is lower.

The build also fixes a few pet and Beast Mastery problems:

• Summon Hawk now spawns the hawk on the target it was cast on.
• A summoned hawk now stays on that target.
• Improved Mend Pet now lowers Mend Pet's Mana cost as intended. It had been increasing the cost instead.

What changed for Auto Shot and Hunter controls?

Auto Shot now requires you to stand still for 0.5 seconds before it fires. Blizzard says Auto Shot still fires while you are casting Aimed Shot or Sniper Shot. The build also adds an optional Auto Attack/Auto Shot setting, which switches between melee auto attack and Auto Shot automatically. It works with gamepad support too.

Hunters should also see arrows when drawing a bow. That is visual, but it makes the new stand-still timing easier to read in combat.

How did traps change in the October 15 build?

Fire Traps now correctly scale with Attack Power. Hunters can also have one Fire Trap and one Ice Trap active at the same time. Before this change, only one trap of any type could be active.

That is a practical change for a Hunter who wants damage from Fire Trap without giving up Ice Trap control. Blizzard also clarified that Resourcefulness does not activate from traps, even after the talent fix below.

What changed for Marksmanship and Survival?

Trueshot Aura is now raid-wide. Sniper Shot also now benefits from the Marksmanship talents that had been missing from it.

For Survival, Strider Kick can now be used while disarmed or when no weapon is equipped in the main hand. Resourcefulness now correctly reduces Strider Kick's Mana cost. It also now activates on melee and ranged ability critical strikes, but not on trap damage. Blizzard updated Predator's Edge's tooltip to make clear that it increases the critical strike damage of abilities only.

What should Hunters do after this update?

Retest the pet you actually use. If you chose a crocolisk, bat, or bird of prey for PvP control, put the new duration and cooldown into your plan instead of relying on the old values. If you play a ranged build, check that your pet's critical strike chance now follows your better stat. If you use traps, try the Fire Trap and Ice Trap combination in a safe pull before relying on it in a difficult fight.

Use the abilities page to compare every family ability, and use the tame finder when you need a family near your level. These are beta values, and Blizzard can tune them again before launch.