Welcome to the Hunter section of my Tomb Raider Skills Guide. Similar to the previous post I’ll be using a rating system to prioritize which skills are better than the others.
Tricks of the Trade is the lesser known (as opposed to Misdirect) aggro management skill that allows Rogues to redirect threat to the tank. Think of it as a short-ranged version of the more popular Misdirect. Used properly, it will allow you to unleash damage without having to worry about getting aggro.
As you can tell from the description, Tricks will redirect all of the threat caused by your actions to whoever you cast it on for six glorious seconds. Minus macros and addons, you can cast it by hitting the spell, then clicking your target, which is usually the tank. I don’t have a habit of casting it on another DPSer because I don’t want threat issues and I don’t want to share the damage buff. Yes, I’m selfish. Terribly, horribly selfish.
Now, doing it that way is a bit tedious. As rogues, we’re used to casting skills without having to worry about who or what to cast them on. When we press a button, there’s usually no need to select a target because we’re already on it. That’s where Tricks is…well, tricky. You have to cast it then click on your tank to use it successfully. Macros will remove that unnecessary click.
Bind the macro to a key and try it out. Hitting it will cast Tricks on your focus target, removing the extra click.
What I really like about Tricks is that it gives you a full six seconds to do anything you want. The next time your raid runs into a big group of mobs, try doing Tricks + two Fan of Knives + Adrenaline Rush and watch your damage blow up everything in sight. Don’t be shy about using Killing Spree and Blade Flurry as well.
Read MorePatch 3.1 is live on the PTR and it’s the one that finally allows players to dual spec. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, dual specs will let players switch between two specs nearly on the fly. WoWWiki describes it as “the ability to switch between two talent specs, glyph sets, and action bars on each level 40 character.”
For hybrid classes, it’s easy to see how this can be exciting. As a paladin, you can be a main spec tank and a healer off spec. Of course, that would mean bringing two sets of gear, something that casters won’t need to do (or at least not as much). A priest can go resto to shadow without changing a lot of armor since spellpower benefits both offensive and defensive spells. Minus the inconvenience of gearing and re-gearing (so to speak), dual specs sound great.
Here’s the thing though: dual specs are less useful if you’re a DPS class. Rogues, warlocks, hunters and mages are all there to do one thing: deal damage. We don’t tank and we don’t heal. Sure, rogues can dodge-tank and voidwalkers took on Illidan at some point, but generally speaking, pure DPS classes get the shorter end of the stick with dual specs because of the limited options. A mage that goes from frost to fire simply changes the way how he or she deals damage. Rogues can switch from assassination to combat if they get bored with daggers. Warlocks can go from destruction to demonology if they want to do some PvP. The point is that regardless of the chosen spec of these classes, they will not be able to do anything other than deal damage.
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