Hunter Loot : Bracers
Posted by Vixenytli & Chuck on January 13, 2009
So here’s the deal. In Patch 3.0.8 hunters are going to get totally re-worked. While we know (mostly) what’s going to happen and there are lots of players in the PTR testing everything out for us- we don’t really know what’s going to happen until it happens. In any case, as far as I can tell none of the changes that are affecting that most sexy of classes is going to affect their gear or how their stats affect DPS. That said- WTF is up with Bracers? There are SO many that rock! And they’re all really close! So here’s the Hunter DPS spreadsheet list–
| Slime Stream Bands | 21.60 | Naxxramas-25 |
| Armguard of the Tower Archer | 21.16 | WotLK Token |
| Eaglebane Bracers | 17.49 | Leatherworking |
| Bands of Anxiety | 10.33 | Naxxramas-10 |
| Arachnoid Gold Band | 6.31 | Naxxramas-25 |
| Thrusting Bands | 3.80 | Naxxramas-25 |
| Giantmaim Bracers | 2.67 | Leatherworking |
| Raging Construct Bands | 1.94 | WotLK 5-man |
| Interwoven Scale Bracers | 0.00 | WotLK 5-man |
| Wristwraps of the Cutthroat | -1.37 | WotLK Token |
And of those, I actually have 3 choices- I have the Giantmaim Bracers, the Interwoven Scale Bracers, and the Eaglebane Bracers. Wow. Why aren’t I wearing the Eaglebane? Well- This is where it gets tricky. To make it easier on you- I’ll use Wowhead’s awesome comparison tool.
| Level | 200 | 200 | 187 | |
| Required level | 80 | 80 | 78 | |
| Agility | 50 | 35 | 41 | |
| Intellect | 29 | 29 | 47 | |
| Stamina | 43 | 54 | 39 | |
| Armor | 549 | 549 | 512 | |
| Attack power | 72 | 100 | 64 | |
| Armor penetration rating | 36 | |||
| Critical strike rating | 32 | |||
| Hit rating | 34 | |||
| Gains | 15 Agi 4 Sta 37 Armor 8 AP 36 Armor Pen |
15 Sta 37 Armor 36 AP 32 Crit |
6 Agi 18 Int 34 Hit |
|
Agi- Very important, but not nearly as important as it used to be. This could change. SS or it didn’t happen. If Agi was the most important thing obviously I’d go with the Giantmaim.
Int- With Careful Aim I get a decent amount of AP out of any INT. 1 int = 1 AP. So if AP were the most important thing I’d look for more Int. That’s doubly important because it also gives me more mana and ups the return on my AoV. Considering INT, I would go for the Eaglebane Bracers.
Stam- Stam is great but Vix has a tank. She doesn’t PVP, and even when soloing one of her trusty (and less favored) pets gets to take the hit while I get my claws polished and write posts. (Seriosuly. when are they going to make an ergonomic keyboard for Scorpids!?) So I don’t care about stam all that much.
Armor- Same deal. It’s nice, but it’s an extra. It’s like when your boyfriend brings you flowers AND chocolates. The flowers are pretty but gimmie the chocolate.
AP- HERE is the big deal. The interwoven have the most AP, which is why I choose them. but they only have 29 INT, and as we said, for Vix, Int=AP so 100+29=129. The Eaglebane only have 64 AP but they have 47 int so 64+47= 111 and the Giantmaim have 72 ap and 29 int so they’re only 101 AP. They have the most Agi, but in AP they’re really lacking. With this in mind, for straight AP I’d have to go Eaglebane.
We don’t care as much about Armor pen, and crit doesn’t have much to compare. I can get crit out of Agi and gems and the like, i am not overly concerned with it in the weighing of these items.
Hit- this is a big deal. Vix just lost 58 Hit when she replaced her dual Cobalt Slicers with the shiney new Wraith Spear. (oh and ahh, yes it’s pretty.) So hit is important again. The eaglebane are the only ones that have hit, so that’s a big point in their favor.
All said an done, the Eaglebane give us more int, which is more mana, more hit, which is more DPS, and a nice weight of both AP and Agi w/out leaning too heavily on either. With our additional 114 AP, these bracers are very nice and will last a long time despite being blue.
