A Hunter's Perspective on Endgame Raids
The following are observations, tips, and guidelines specific to hunters in endgame raid content.
Your PurposeA hunter's purpose in endgame raids is to provide significant, sustained, ranged DPS with a minimum of upkeep needed from the raid's healers. Hunters have a uniquely effective way to limit their aggro generation, and thus keep a high DPS output without needing to worry nearly so much about overnuking. Hunters also have a number of special abilities and shots that will come into play in certain situations.
Shots
Your mainstay in these raids will be Auto-shot (naturally), Arcane Shot, and Multi-shot: the "Endgame 3" that will comprise the majority of your damage output. Because you will typically be fighting very few mobs at any one time, and little "breakable" CC is used, Multi-shot is much safer to use during endgame raids than in 5 to 15-man situations.
As for your other shots:
1) Aimed Shot - Will not be needed. In the time it takes you to fire a single Aimed Shot, you could instead Auto-shot twice *and* use an Arcane Shot. Because of its windup time, using Aimed Shot will likely get in the way of using Multi-shot as often as you otherwise could, too. On balance, you will put out more sustained damage by sticking to the "Endgame 3" listed above.
2) Scatter Shot - Will prove ineffective on almost every mob in the endgame. There might be a time when this is useful, but it certainly won't happen often.
3) Distracting Shot - There are a number of situations when Distracting Shot will be priceless, most often when the raid group needs to quickly engage and control multiple mobs at once, such as during boss encounters that involve a boss and one or more additional bodyguards/pets/what-have-yous. In these cases, a hunter is usually assigned to each off-tank, and when the boss and his adds are aggro'd to start the encounter, these hunters each distract their corresponding add, bringing it to a location where their off-tank can recapture its aggro away from the boss mob.
When using Distracting Shot to pull a mob into position, make sure you pull using Rank 1 of the spell, to generate the least amount of aggro possible. If you do this, a tank will have the easiest time he can of taunting or otherwise capturing the mob's aggro from you after your initial pull.
4) Tranquilizing Shot - Once you receive this shot, you will be expected to use it during the Magmadar encounter in Molten Core, to mitigate the effects of Magmadar's Frenzy. Details will be found in the relative writeup on the Magmadar encounter.
Stings
For the most part, your stings will not be terribly effecive:
1) Serpent Sting - Of all your stings, this one is the most likely to affect endgame mobs. You should almost never sting the main target of the raid, however, since debuff slots on the main target should be reserved for higher-utility debuffs such as Hunter's Mark and Curse of Elements, as well as MT special ability debuffs. To find out when to use Serpent Sting, consult the relevant encounter or mob topic elsewhere in this forum.
2) Scorpid Sting - Endgame mobs are almost uniformly immune to this sting. Currently, there is no place you will need it for these raids.
3) Viper Sting - Similarly, most endgame mobs are immune to this sting. If they're not immune, then it is likely their mana pools are so massive that this sting won't even make a dent. Don't use it.
Pets
Pets have limited utility in the endgame raid environment. They will die rapidly if subjected to the AoE attacks many endgame mobs sport. Most often, they will function as a temporary, "disposable" DoT. In some situations they will be used as sacrificial targets against a mob with a particularly nasty attack, or even as an alternate mechanism for pulling. See the specific thread for an encounter or mob type to find out more.
Traps
Traps also have limited utility in endgame raids:
1) Frost Trap - The most useful trap during endgame raids. Even raid mobs are generally susceptible to the temporary slowing effects of this trap. Typically, whenever hunters are performing a ranged pull on one or more enemy mobs, Frost Traps should be placed along the path the mob(s) will be travelling during the pull.
2) Freezing Trap - Most endgame mobs are immune to the CC effect of this trap, but in dire need, you might drop one down and pray that it slows down an enemy mob while you high-tail it away. Typically, this won't work though.
3) Immolation Trap - Not terribly useful. It is a bad idea to begin any encounter with more aggro than can be avoided, and having a mob run across this trap during a pull ensures that the mob has, and continues to generate as its DoT effect ticks off, hate for the owner of the trap.
4) Explosive Trap - Essentially same as the Immolation Trap, and for the same reasons.
Other Special Abilities
A number of your other special abilities will prove worthwhile:
1) Range - This is a biggie. Your maximum range, with 3 talent points invested in the Hawkeye talent, is a full 41 yards. This is long enough that if you sit at maximum range from most enemies, you never have to worry in the slightest about being hit by AoE attacks, whether they be direct damage, DoTs, incapacitating effects, etc. Always try to keep just under your maximum range from the enemy, if possible given the environment.
2) Feign Death - This is the other biggie. No other class can control their aggro as effectively as a hunter can, by prudent (and regular!) use of Feign Death. When you Feign, you wipe your aggro slate clean. As soon as you feign for the first time in a given encounter, you've dropped yourself to the bottom of your enemy's aggro list. The more times you feign, the less likely you are to ever get anywhere near the top of the list, and the more free you are to nuke to your heart's content.
Additionally, a successful Feign Death can pull you out of combat mode, so that Feigning at the appropriate time can allow you to "take a break" during the middle of a long battle. If you are an engineer with Goblin Jumper Cables, you might be able to effect an in-combat rez on a fallen comrade. And if you have a supply of that succulent conjured Crystal Water, you should be able to recover from being completely out-of-mana back to a full mana pool in a manner of 20-30 seconds. The loss of your Auto-shot DPS during that time should be more than offset by the increase in DPS output you will experience after you finish drinking, when your rejuvenated mana pool allows you to use your whole arsenal of shots again.
Be careful of using Feign Death during a pull, before a warrior MT or off-tank has gotten some degree of aggro from the mob your are pulling; this can lead to the mob's aggro going any which way, and most often landing on one of those "AoE hate generators" also known as healers.
Note that you will not be able to exit combat via a successful Feign Death if your pet is alive and is itself engaged in combat. If your pet is in combat when you want to Feign Death to leave combat, you MUST call your pet back and dismiss it first, before you Feign. To be on the safe side, it is probably best to dismiss any live pet before attempting this maneuver.
3) Rapid Fire - Many of the boss encounters in endgame raids last so long that, even though this ability has a 5-minute cooldown, you will be able to use it 2 or even 3 times during the course of the encounter! This ability provides a pure, 40% boost in your DPS, and should be used fairly early during each boss encounter, to increase the likelihood you will be able to use it again. Just don't use it too early (before you have feigned a few times to dump aggro), lest you unintentionally jump to the top of the enemy's aggro list.
4) Volley - From time to time, there will be 4+ enemy mobs packed together within an area that could be effected by this spell. Assuming aggro is being controlled for all those mobs (by individual tanks, by Consecration, etc.), then you can feel free to use Volley. These specific occasions will be noted in the relevant encounter or mob writeups.
5) Hunter's Mark - Invaluable for assignment of targets when multiple mobs must be handled for a single pull or boss encounter. Used (naturally) to indicate the current main kill target for the raid group. Hunter's Mark should always stay up and active on the main kill target, and if at all possible should be one that is maximally upgraded via the Marksmanship talent tree. If you have not placed 5 talent points in this ability, please do not use Hunter's Mark on the main kill target, unless you have no other choice (e.g. all other hunters are dead). To conserve mana, most of the time only a single hunter should apply Hunter's Mark; if he goes down, another hunter should step up and begin applying it.
6) Tracking - Tracking will primarily come in handy as a means of quickly detecting mob respawns, patrols, and the like. Keep your tracking mode set appropriately, and be on the lookout for these types of dangers, so that you can warn the raid group. Tracking can also be a big help in other situations too: in helping to look for clumping during Phase 2 of the Onyxia encounter, for example.
More on Aggro Management
As mentioned already, this is one of the ways in which hunters shine in endgame raids. But to keep your aggro low and maintain the freedom you need to do maximum DPS with minimum fear of enemy attacks, you must be careful:
1) Do not attack before the tanks have good control of aggro; typically a general attack order will be given. Until you have feigned a few times, a string of lucky crits can still push you to the top of the aggro list, and being there is invariably a "Bad Thing (tm)" for a hunter.
2) By maintaining the largest possible distance between you and the enemy mobs you are engaging, you decrease the chance that a Feign Death will be resisted. Endgame mobs that are level 62+, and especially 63+, can be quite resistant to this ability, and are more resistant the closer you are to them.
3) If Feign Death is resisted, keep in mind that it will have no effect upon where you are in the aggro list of the enemy mobs. If this occurs early in an encounter, it can be particularly dangerous to continue outputting your maximum possible DPS; limit your attacks until you can successfully Feign again, to avoid pulling aggro from the MTs.
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Thats the right way to play a hunter. 