[Hunter] Preliminary gear list

This is the "best" gear I could locate for 80, it doesn't take spec into consideration at this point. I'm still looking at helms, as the Dred's has no Meta slot, and we would need that as a minimum, the hit rating can be made up elsewhere.

I personally think that items with gem slots if slightly worse than others will be better in the long run, when gemmed properly. This is a work in progress and will be updated with other user input and research.

Thing to remember: hit soft cap 8%, until this point there is no bigger dps increase than +hit. Also to remember if your Draenei, your cap is only 7%.

Helm: King Dred's helm - 52 hit rating, 1.59% @ 80
Neck: Necklace of Arcane Spheres
Shoulders: Massive Spaulders of the Jormungar - 33 hit rating 1.01% @ 80
Back: Cloak of the Gushing Wound - 29 hit rating, .88% @ 80
Chest: Aviary Guardsman's Hauberk - 1 red, 1 yellow sockets
Bracer: Eaglebane Bracers - 34 hit 1.2% @ 80
Gloves: Grips of the Beast God - 1 red sockt, 1.22% hit @ 80
Waist: Belt of Tasseled Lanterns, 1 blue socket
Pants: Hollowed Mandible Legplates - 2 red sockets
Boots: Dragon Slayer's Sabatons - 2 red sockets
Rings:

• Mobius Band - 25 hit rating, .76 @ 80
  Stained-Glass Shard Ring

Trinkets:

• Sphere of Red Dragon's Blood - 55 hit rating, 1.68 @ 80
  Incisor Fragment - ap, and armor pen on use

@ 8.34 hit not counting weapon, ranged slot, or enchants, so there is wiggle room for gear with better overall stats.

Melee 2h: Runeblade of Demonstrable Power - agil, but no stam
Ranged:

• Titanium Compound Bow - 24agil, 36 stam, 48ap
  Pierce's Pistol - no stats, .43% hit, 18 crit, 68ap
  Zombie sweeper shotgun, same as Pierce's, rep instead of drop

Enchant choices:

Helm: 50ap, 20crit, Ebon Hold rep, revered
Shoulder: 30ap, 10crit, SoH Honored
Back: 22agil
Chest:

• 275 health
  8 stats

Bracer: 50ap
Gloves;

• 44ap
  20 agil

Pants: Icescale Leg Armor 75ap, 22 crit
Boots:

• 32 ap
  16 agil
  Tuskers Vitality

Melee:

• 85 ap
  Scourgebane (140ap vs undead)

Ranged:

• 40 crit
  40 haste

Using Rawr with raid buffs, flask, ferocity wolf pet and Plunderer's Helm I managed to see 3536.48 dps. Still researching to get this better, will try different pets/specs. Hunter spec here is survival.

While old, Biznicks Accurascope might still be worth using should hit rating prove to be an issue.

I'm looking into BIS gear too, and reached many of the same conclusions as you.

As far as the helm goes, you might be able to switch to the Plunderer's Helmet, then go for two one-handers to make up the difference on the lost hit.

You should really try find a spec as certain talent, such as Careful Aim, will change the stat values.

Here's my shot at BiS for various specs; BM, MM and SV(Those are my Rawr files, without buffs).

Not so sure about the Emerald Choker (full disclosure: I'm MM spec).

If you switch to the Necklace of Arcane Spheres, you gain 29 agility and 14 crit, while only losing 19 stamina (as well as the resilience, of course).

updated with new neck and put a link in to the Survival spec I'm using, and due to the limited number of gear possibilities, I'm not sure how many variations of a BIS there will be between BM, MM, and Surv.