The Hunter DPS Spreadsheet Guide

It’s come to my attention that many people seem to have a difficult time with using The Hunter DPS Spreadsheet.  I’m hoping this post might be a guide for those that have questions, problems, or just had a question and didn’t really know how or where to ask.

First, let me give some background for you.  The current spreadsheet is based off of the original spreadsheet by Cheeky and Lactose.  But much of what we knew about this original version has changed or is no longer present.

Just as with Wrath of the Lich King has changed  much of the game and is no longer the same World of Warcraft we all grew up playing.  The same can be said for the spreadsheet.  Much of the original code has been rewritten to match the current game mechanics.

I wan to make sure that credit for the Hunter DPS Spreadsheet is properly given.  You see the Hunter DPS Spreadsheet is ONLY sponsored and hosted by The Hunting Lodge.  It is actually managed and maintained by Wertez and Indora.  Wertez taking the Project Owner/Manager, Lead Visionary role, and Indora being the lead developer and theorycrafter.  Shandara (of Shandara’s Spreadsheet on Elitist Jerks) provides consultation on the theorycrafting and mechanics.  This is to make sure that the class theory is similar and to reduce confusion on any descrepencies.

NOTE: There ARE and WILL still be some differences between the spreadsheets because of differences in methods used to calculate and determine the actual class mechanics.  Wertez has stated that his goal is to keep this difference witin +/- 2% of what one can expect to find in WWS reports.   So far it seems that this is happening.

(NOTE: I am not commenting on the accuracy of Shandara’s work as I have never used it. I am sure it must be close if not matching the results of the Hunter DPS Spreadsheet.  I happily suggest that you find out for yourself which you prefer to use.)

So back to the Hunter DPS Spreadsheet and how to use it.  You can find always get the latest official release from the link on the Lodge’s Homepage, the Lodge Forums front page, and within the Hunter DPS Spreadsheet Development forum.

After you’ve download it, you need to know a few things:

1. There is only a MS Excel version and no Open Office version is in the work at this time.
2. You need to make sure that you enable All Macros.
3. If your on a Mac, you may find that the spreadsheet won’t work for you even if you have Office or run it in PC Emulation mode.
   (I’m not sure why this is, I’ve just seen people state that they’ve had issues on Macs.)

So.. now that that’s out of the way, let’s import a character and see how this thing works.

The most important part of this page starts at Cell 24 – “How to Use this Spreadsheet”.   This realy gives about everything you need to know on how to use the basic features of the spreadsheet.

This is where Wertez and the team keeps everyone up to date on what’s happened with the spreadsheet over since its release.

It’s always a good idea to check the ChangeLog, just so you know what’s going on with the current release.

Well.. Here is where we actually start to do something.   We’ll be able to get everything set up so we can have our Amory Profile loaded, check our potential DPS, Glyphs, and even get an idea of our shot rotation.

Up in the top left you’ll notice where you enter your Character’s Name, Realm, Server Set (location US or EU is currently supported).

What’s misleading here, is you see the Export and Import buttons.   Many people think it’s fill in everything and press Import.  DON’T!!

These buttons are only to Export or Import from previous versions of the sheet.  You’ll need to have an export file (C:\THL_Spreadsheet_data.log) for this to work.

Next in the middle you can adjust these settings to fit your Character or Raid better.  Most notably would be your faction (Scryer, Aldor or None) and the Target’s Type, Level, Armor, and possibly Potion Used.  Typically you can just leave these alone, but if you feel the need to change them you can.

All you need to do on the Input tab really is

1. Fill in the Yellow Cells with the correct information
2. Press NO buttons
3. Move on to the Talents tab

Okay, so now we’re going to press our first button.

You’ll notice the Load from Armory and RESET buttons. You can use these to either load your profile from WoW Armory or press RESET to clear them out and set them yourself.

With all the different Talent Trees open for editing you can try out different builds on the fly.  Also, you’ll notice below the Talent Trees there’s a place to select your Glyphs.

Remember, you need to select the proper Sniper Training selection as well as the Shots and Specials to be used as part of your rotation.

Thought we forgot about your pet?  Well, we didnt.  Here is where you set up your pet’s talents.

Unfortunately, you can’t just download your pet’s talents as you can your own.  You’ll have to manually set them as well as which Pet Skills you want to be on Auto Cast.

A nice feature here is the ability to Save and Load Pet Profiles.

Why would you want to use these?  One possibility is to treat this like you would your stable.  Save a profile for each pet, then when you need it you load it up.  Nice when trying to compare changes between different pets.

Remember back on the Input tab when you wanted to press the Import button and I said “DON’T!!!”?  Here is the reason not to.

You see, you don’t import any gear until this tab.  Here you’ll see the Load from Armory button.  Now many people seem to have an issue with their gear not showing up.  That’s okay, there’s a tab called CustomGear.  Anything that might be missing from your Armory, can be entered on the CustomGear tab.

I know, it’s a pain.  And believe me, Wertez and the team feel your pain.

They are  constantly working hard to remove old gear and even harder to add new or missing gear.   So if you find that anything is missing, just post it up on the Lodge Forums or feel free to send me an email and I’ll pass it along.

Now, if after you loaded your gear and you decide to make some changes to either your Armory, CustomGear tab, Talents, or Pet you might want to just press the ReCalculate Attributes button to be safe.

Many times people will ask, “How does Food Buffs or Cast Buffs affects my DPS/Damage output.”

The Buffs tab is where you can enter the buff information.  The buff will be considered and calculated, to show you how it affects your DPS potential.

Now remember, that if you don’t use any buffs or want to know what your unbuffed “Target Dummy Paperdoll” stats could be, the Buff tab needs to be cleared.

If it isn’t then you’ll find your results off.  But if you raid with a consistent group every time and know what your buffs are each time, then having them here will help you better predict what your dps/dmg potential might be.

Alright, so here is where you select your Shots and Specials to be used as part of a Rotation.  Also, you need to check and see which Aspect you want to have active.  If you run with Dragonhawk you need to have it selected, if you use Aspect of the Hawk or Viper or Beast you need to select either of those instead.

Now you have a few things here that is helpful.  You can set your priority to be based off of Sting or Mana (Viper).

This way your calculated rotation will either be trying to make sure you maintain mana (Viper) or doing maximum damage (Sting).

Once you’ve made sure everything is entered correctly, press the Calculate Now button and it’ll figure out a pretty solid rotation for you to use.

Understand, most of these rotations will probably require the use of Quartz, Class Timers or some other mod that can keep track of your Casting Times and Cooldowns.

Oh.. before I forget, make sure to set your GCD Delay (Latency) field to be as close as you normally are in game.  This will help with making your rotation and shot timing more accurate.

Results

Now in my opinion, here is where the spreadsheet get’s really cool!!  We can get ALL geeked out and check out the graphs to see just what and where all our damage is coming from, Attacks, Crits, etc…

All these graphs help you see what to expect.  Also, another EXTREMELY important link is the Lootrank-Link field in the bottom lefthand corner.

Copy/Paste this link in your browser and it’ll provide you with gear upgrades, locations etc… Lootrank is much more up to date and accurate than could be crammed into the spreadsheet.

Yes, I know, it’s a bit annoying, but think of it this way.  Would you rather have the DPS/DMG be as accurate as possible or would you rather have a gear planner?  Me personaly?  I’ll suffer with having to copy/paste for a gear planner.

We already talked about this one.  But suffice it to say, it’s the tab to be used for any missing gear (e.g. trinkets, rings, weapons, etc…) that might not have been loaded with your Armory Profile.

This is a sheet used for stats only.

It’s nice because it helps give you the basic mechanics used for each class at each level for any theorycrafting you might decide to do on your own.

This is another geeky page.  Instead of some specific graphs, here you get specific information on everything.  Not only that, you get to see how accurate the spreadsheetis vs. your paperdoll stats in game.  On this tab, everything is out in the open, one can see everything from RAP, specific shot damage information, Hunter Talent or Gear buffs, etc.. basically as said. EVERYTHING that goes into determining your DPS/DMG.

This is basically the same thing but goes over everything related to your pet.

So there you have it, a quick down and dirty guide to using the Hunter DPS Spreadsheet.

I hope you find this useful.  I’d appreciate any feedback as I’m sure Wertez and the team would also on how to make this guide or the spreadsheet even better.

Thanks again for stopping by and trying out this really cool tool for Hunters!!