Cataclysm Hunter Consumables

4.2

Cataclysm brought some good changes for us hunters when it comes to consumables. We used to have to bring elixirs that would expire upon death to fully optimize our dps and we used to have to bring extra consumables for our pets.
But, The Wrath of the Lich King expansion has passed and now we are playing Cataclysm, so you you can forget about all that nonsense.

Flasks or Elixirs

• Flask of the Winds (+300 Agility for 1 hr)
• Scroll of Agility IX (+100 Agility for 30 min)

In Cataclysm all the flasks provide the base stats that we will strongly favor. Elixirs provide secondary stats such as crit, haste, hit and mastery. For Hunters the Agility flask is the only sensible option.

Scrolls count as elixirs now and therefor won’t be overwritten by other buffs like they used to. Don’t get me wrong, if you have the funds for flasks you should always go for that. But if you for example are on the last attempt of the night and your raid leader says “ok guys, use an elixir for this one if you don’t wanna pop a new flask” then using one of these scrolls is a good idea.

Potions

• Potion of the Tol’Vir (+1200 Agility for 25 sec)
• Mythical Healing Potion (7.5k-125.k hp restored)

No need to worry about going over the haste-cap with Potion of Speed anymore. Now we have the fantastic Potion of the Tol’Vir which gives us a straight Agility boost for 25 seconds.

As a side note, it’s a good idea to bring a health potion just in case. The healers are for more strained in Cataclysm and it’s very rare to see everyone in the raid at 100% health. During some encounters you are very likely to die unless you have some extra self-healing such as from a Healthstone. Bringing some health potions means you’re always ready. But keep in mind that you can only use one potion per battle.

Food

• Seafood Magnifique Feast (+90 Useful stat, +90 Stamina for 1 hr) *
• Skewered Eel (+90 Agility, +90 Stamina for 1 hr)
• Fortune Cookie (+90 Useful stat, +90 Stamina for 1 hr)
• Broiled Dragon Feast(+60 Useful stat, +60 Stamina for 1 hr) *
• Goblin Barbecue (+60 Useful stat, +60 Stamina for 1 hr) *
• Tender Baked Turtle (+60 Agility, +60 Stamina for 1 hr)

* Feeds the entire party.

In Wrath of the Lich King it was always a bad idea to go for the wonderfully easy Fish Feast. In Cataclysm they decided that Fish Feasts should be the best possible thing for everyone to eat so now all the Fish Feast equivalents provide “+X of a useful stat” and for us that means Agility!

Seafood Magnifique Feast will become the ultimate feast for all raiders and the standard. However, for now you will have to stick with something else as you are very unlikely to see that particular feast. Why? Well, your guild is required to fish up 10 000 fish from pools to get the recipe.

You should try to get or make your own Skewered Eel and stock up on those until you can partake in feasting on magnificent seafood. If you absolutely cannot get your hands on them then the other options in the list will have to do.

Other buffs

• Drums of Forgotten Kings
• Dense Embersilk Bandage
• A smile on your face

“A smile on your face is the best raid buff”, yes it is. Thank you Tomster for that insightful advice.
Some bandages is always good to carry around and don’t be afraid to use them when there’s a bit of downtime. If you heal yourself up with some food or bandages then there’s less mana waste on your healer and the dungeon or raid will go smoother and faster in general.

It’s always a good idea to carry around a Drums of Forgotten Kings because you never know when you’ll get into that one raid that doesn’t have a paladin or druid. It probably hasn’t happened yet, but it will someday!

Cheers,
Gav