For hunters, there is finally a raid buff in World of Warcraft. This means hunters will soon feel significantly more useful – and everyone will deal more damage.
The notion that hunters are incompetent is a cliché as old as World of Warcraft itself. However, in one regard, this is not just a prejudice in Dragonflight, but a reality: hunters are incapable of contributing a unique buff that benefits the entire group – because they simply have none.
However, with Patch 10.2 Watcher of Dreams, that will change.
What was the problem? Every class in World of Warcraft has some peculiarity that makes them useful in a raid and bestows advantages upon others. Priests have Power Word: Fortitude for increased stamina, mages bring Arcane Intellect, and druids provide everyone with additional versatility.
Hunters have nothing (besides silly names for their pets).
Apart from the turtle aspect, which allowed hunters to briefly become immune to remove ground effects or bombs without harm, hunters had no exclusive buff for the raid group. Alone regarding their raid utility, hunters were basically a “second-choice” class – because why would you bring a hunter when all other classes bring a useful group buff?
What kind of buff is it? The Mark of the Hunter will change with Patch 10.2. When the Mark of the Hunter is applied to a target, that target will take 5% more damage as long as it has over 80% health. Additionally, the Mark of the Hunter will have a cooldown of 20 seconds in combat, with no cooldown outside of combat. Furthermore, multiple hunters cannot stack this buff.
Depending on the boss fight, this could become quite an important buff. While the first 20% of a fight is usually the easiest part, there are exceptions. Additionally, there are bosses, such as Odin in the Halls of Valor, who last only from 100% to 90% health – in such a case, the 5% buff would be active for the entire duration of the fight.
Considering an average boss fight, the Mark of the Hunter should mean around 1% more damage for all characters – in addition to the bonus that the first phase of a fight is likely to be particularly quick.
Whether this buff will be enough to give hunters a more regular spot in raids remains to be seen. However, it is at least an important first step for hunters to bring something unique to the raid that benefits the entire group.
What do you think of this buff? A good solution to make hunters more useful? Or would you have had another idea?
Perhaps Blizzard will also fix a problem where bots are currently raking in millions with the patch.
