In the upcoming World of Warcraft Dragonflight Patch 10.2, Hunters are set to become an essential addition to raid compositions. Their signature spell, Hunter’s Mark, will undergo a rework, applying a damage-boosting effect to targets above a certain health threshold. This long-awaited raid-wide effect will make Hunters a must-have for raid groups.
With the new patch, applying Hunter’s Mark to a target will increase the damage they take by five percent if they are at 80 percent HP or above. This buff will greatly benefit classes with strong openers, allowing them to deal even more damage at the start of encounters.
This addition will make Hunters indispensable in high-end raid compositions, as min-maxing groups strive to maximize their raid group’s damage output. An extra five-percent buff across the board cannot be ignored.
The reason behind this change is that Hunters were the only class in the game without a raid-wide buff. This made them an optional choice in many compositions, while other DPS options were guaranteed to have at least one representative providing buffs to the raid. In fact, during Liquid’s world first kill on Scalecommander Sarkareth earlier this year, Hunters were notably absent.
Liquid guild leader Maximum created a spreadsheet illustrating the evolution of raid buffs and how mandatory classes are filling up more and more slots each patch. In Patch 10.2, 14 out of the 20 possible slots in a Mythic raid team will be occupied by classes with unique buffs. While this may primarily affect top-level players, those aiming to maximize their chances of defeating bosses and progressing through Mythic tiers will need to adhere to these rules.
Great raiding teams would never go without a Monk for Mystic Touch or a Demon Hunter for Chaos Brand. Now, they will practically be required to bring along a Hunter as well.
However, even before this upcoming patch, Hunters were still securing raid slots despite lacking raid buffs.
In Patch 10.1.7, Beast Mastery Hunter is the second-most popular specialization in both Normal and Heroic Aberrus raids. This popularity continues in Mythic-difficulty raids, where it ranks as the third-most popular spec, according to Warcraftlogs, a WoW statistics site. It is highly likely that you have encountered one or more Hunters in your raid groups over the past six months, and it’s probable that your weekly raid group already includes at least one of them.
While the presence of Hunters in raid groups will increase moving forward, especially for high-level Mythic raiders, there is no need to worry about them taking up slots. Chances are they were already part of your group to begin with.
The five-percent raid-wide damage buff from Hunter’s Mark will be implemented with the launch of Patch 10.2 later this year.
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Source: DOTESPORTS
