Ranged Weapon

[Tony]

So, not that I am "Hunting", I am cursed with the same thing I was when I was melee. That decent weapon eludes me. My schedule has not allowed me to do much raiding lately, and it seems that when I do get into a 10/25 man, the ranged weapons are few and far between.

I just got done reading an article on Warcraft Hunters Union about the item [item]Rowan's Rifle of Silver Bullets[/item].

I've been getting a lot of emails about Rowan's Rifle of Silver Bullets  lately, and there seems to be a lot of confusion about whether it'd good for a hunter despite all those tanking stats. This confusion is no doubt fueled by all the fools out there bashing hunters for using a "tank" weapon. While I've talked about Rowan's before, I fear I was insufficiently explicit.

In the interest of clarity, here are the facts:

    * Rowan's Rifle is an excellent hunter weapon.
    * Rowan's is a better ranged weapon than anything available outside of a raid.
    * Depending on the character & gear, Rowan's may even be better than than the ICC 10-man weapons.

Keep in mind that Rowan's Rifle has a whopping 255 ranged dps on it. And ranged dps is the single most important stat to hunter — far more important than even hit rating. Ranged dps contributes more to our damage than any other stat, it's huge, it cannot be stressed enough. And it's that 255 ranged dps that makes Rowan's so much better than any heroic weapon out there.

There are, in point of fact, only a handful of normal-mode ranged weapons out there that are better than Rowan's. If you make a list of all your level 80 ranged weapon choices, Rowan's Rifle is in the top cluster.

You should not be ashamed to use this weapon. If you're using one of the crummy heroic ranged weapons, you should go to the AH and purchase Rowan's Rifle — it will be a substantial dps improvement.

If the weapon drops for you... well, yes, it's a hunter weapon. But it's also a tank weapon and really was designed more for tanks than for us. When it first dropped for us back in the day, I passed to the tanks and just bought it for myself. I recommend letting main spec tanks have first crack (after all, we have other ranged weapons that drop in ICC), but we hunters should be immediately next in line.

I bolded the part that I am questioning. Is this in fact True? I plugged in my character to Femaledwarf and it indeed noted that the gun would be a huge upgrade from my current [item]Felglacier Bolter[/item]. There is one in the AH right now for 2200, and before I "Pull the Trigger" I wanted to get some input from all of you.

[Apolla]

If its that big of an upgrade and you proved it, why not request it from the guild bank considering all the main warrior tanks have them?

[Tony]

If its that big of an upgrade and you proved it, why not request it from the guild bank considering all the main warrior tanks have them?

Since I play a hunter and not a tank, I didn't think I was able to. Also, none of them have been offered up yet afaik.

Just wanted to know what you all think about a hunter using a tanking gun... From what I've read, a lot of people think it's heresy.

According to the spreadsheets tho, the Njorndar Bone Bow (10 man Deathwhisper) is only 1 dps higher than the rifle (with my current gear taken into consideration).

[TheGeneral451]

added stats are just icing on the cake my man!  The fact that the weapon's dps crushes yours will improve your dps.  You will lose slight stats because of the tank stats on the wep but gemmed and chanted correctly it wouldn't be a factor. Rowan's over Bolter, end of story.

[Apolla]

Well, if it works for you then it works.  I used to role on leather/mail gear when I was dps due to them being superior than plate in almost every way.  So if its an upgrade and works why wouldn't you be entitled to it?  Main char, main spec, main use.  Apply for it.