I recently compiled this for our guild, but thought it may be nice to share. There are a few generalisations in the post, but it is aimed at offering understanding without overloading.

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Due to the complicated relationship between weapon speed and shot rotation, the listed weapon dps has only a tertiary effect on your actual dps: Weapon speed and weapon stats are both more important than the listed weapon dps.

This makes it very hard to tell which weapons are actually upgrades, and which will give you a bit of a nerfing, and as it is central to our class, I have spent some time on this post to explain it in an easy to understand way (I hope).
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I'll be using my own current spec (SV), and our guilds top BM hunters' with Cheeky's awesome hunter dps calc spreadhseet for the theorycrafting.

Rotations.
There are really only two viable shot rotations to use inorder to max your dps, depending on your spec.

BM hunters: Quicker shots - One special shot between each autoshot. The most damaging special shot should be used if available. That means use Multi-shot first, then arcane shot, and finally steady shot if the others are on CD.

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Q u o t e:
Autoshot, (Multi-shot/Arcane Shot/Steady Shot), <repeat>

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MM/SV hunters: Slower shots - can add an additional 'instant' shot after every other steady shot.

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Q u o t e:
Autoshot, Steady Shot, Multi-shot
Autoshot, Steady Shot
Autoshot, Steady Shot, Arcane Shot
Autoshot, Steady Shot
<repeat>

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(If you are not using these rotations, you are not reaching your full dps potential)


Weapons sorted by actual theorycrafted dps

SV/MM Hunter: Theorycrafted using Juggernaught's gear:

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Q u o t e:
1. Bristleblitz Striker: 95.8 dps, 3.0 - Actual hunter dps: 973.36 dps
2. Black Bow of the Betrayer: 95.8 dps, 3.0 - Actual hunter dps: 968.21 dps
3. Serpent Spine Longbow: 90.7 dps, 3.0 - Actual hunter dps: 965.67 dps
4. Ancient Sin'dorei Longbow: 86.3 dps, 3.0 - Actual hunter dps: 955.22 dps
5. Gladiator's Heavy Crossbow: 82.4 dps, 3.1 - Actual hunter dps: 954.88 dps
6. Legionkiller: 90.7 dps, 2.9 - Actual hunter dps: 949.6 dps
7. Arcanite Steam-Pistol: 87.2 dps, 2.9 - Actual hunter dps: 941.74 dps
8. Sunfury Bow: 83.3 dps, 2.9 - Actual hunter dps: 938.71 dps
9. Tuskbreaker: 86.4 dps, 2.9 - Actual hunter dps: 936.81 dps
10. Wrathtide Longbow: 75.5 dps, 3.0 - Actual hunter dps: 929.33 dps
11. Steelhaw Crossbow: 79.1 dps, 2.8 - Actual hunter dps: 905.48 dps
12. Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle: 79.1 dps, 2.7 - Actual hunter dps: 900.81 dps
13. Barrel-Blade Longrifle: 81.2 dps, 2.6 - Actual hunter dps: 896.45 dps
14. Don Santos' Famous Hunting Rifle: 73.7 dps, 2.7 - Actual hunter dps: 893.59 dps

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SV/MM Summary:
a) 2.7 speed weapons and faster cause delays to your autoshots and you loose a good chunk of dps as a result. (note speed of bottom 3 places on the dps chart.) These weapons are not suitable for a MM/SV hunter.
b) 2.8 speed weapons cause a minor delay to autoshots and with it a minor loss of dps, but are still viable for SV/MM Hunters. (notice Steelhawk compared to Wrathtide)


BM Hunter: Theorycrafted using BM Hunters' gear:

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Q u o t e:
1. Barrel-Blade Longrifle: 81.2 dps, 2.6 - Actual hunter dps: 881.33dps
2. Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle: 79.1 dps, 2.7 - Actual hunter dps: 879.44 dps
3. Don Santos' Famous Hunting Rifle: 73.7 dps, 2.7 - Actual hunter dps: 874.95 dps
4. Arcanite Steam-Pistol: 87.2 dps, 2.9 - Actual hunter dps: 868.82 dps
5. Legionkiller: 90.7 dps, 2.9 - Actual hunter dps: 868.81 dps
6. Bristleblitz Striker: 95.8 dps, 3.0 - Actual hunter dps: 868.59 dps
7. Tuskbreaker: 86.4 dps, 2.9 - Actual hunter dps: 867.14 dps
8. Black Bow of the Betrayer: 95.8 dps, 3.0 - Actual hunter dps: 863.68 dps
9. Serpent Spine Longbow: 90.7 dps, 3.0 - Actual hunter dps: 860.24 dps
10. Steelhaw Crossbow: 79.1 dps, 2.8 - Actual hunter dps: 858.55 dps
11. Sunfury Bow: 83.3 dps, 2.9 - Actual hunter dps: 857.08 dps
12. Ancient Sin'dorei Longbow: 86.3 dps, 3.0 - Actual hunter dps: 849.97 dps
13. Gladiator's Heavy Crossbow: 82.4 dps, 3.1 - Actual hunter dps: 824.64 dps
14. Wrathtide Longbow: 75.5 dps, 3.0 - Actual hunter dps: 822.04 dps

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BM Summary:
a) BM hunters main source of dps comes from the steady shots they fire between each autoshot due to the special way in which steady shot damage is calculated (and this bit is quite important)

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Q u o t e:
Steady shot damage is calculated using a normalised weapon speed of 2.8.

What this means is that if you take two identical dps weapons, one with 2.8 speed and one with 2.0 speed, the steady shots fired from the two weapons will do exactly the same damage.

However, with the fast weapon you can fire more steady shots over a given time than with the slower weapon, greatly increasing your steady shot dps.

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That is why a fast weapon speed is so important for BM hunters, as steady shot dps directly increases with weapon speed.

Summary
How to sum that up? Well...
1. 2.7 or faster weapons come top of the BM dps list and bottom of the SV/MM list. These are designed for BM hunters using an autoshot, steady shot rotation.
2. 2.8 speed weapons are equally as ok for either spec.
3. 2.9 or slower weapons come top of the MM/SV list and bottom of the BM list. These are designed for MM/SV hunters.

Secondly, weapon stats are sometimes more important than raw weapon dps alone:

For example Tuskbreaker is the same speed as the Sunfury, but has 3dps more. However, for SV/MM spec it will do less actual dps due to it's lack of decent stats.

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*Although the actual dps value you achieve with each weapon will change with your own gear/talents, the order of the weapons in the lists will not change. Wrathtide will always give more dps that Steelhawk for example.

**BM hunters can use Multi-shot or Arcane Shot in your rotation inplace of Steady Shot when they are avilable for a small dps increase (depending on the target's armor)

***Note: The BM hunter dps listed does not include pet dps which is why it seems lower than SV/MM hunter.

****I have excluded the Rfile of the Stoic Guardian - at 1.9 speed it is way too fast to be of any use to a hunter, and actually comes dead last on both lists.

*****Cheeky's hunter dps calc spreadsheet - http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t9816-hunter_spreadsheets_development/

duh, i'm BM and i hate guns. this list shows me that i should take a gun though :(

Very nice guide, Jug. Reported for sticky :)

While you're at it you should add MH/BT class weapons to the list for referrence as well =)

Edit: Fat fingers

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Q u o t e:
duh, i'm BM and i hate guns. this list shows me that i should take a gun though :(

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I've modified the post slightly for BM hunters.

The original data was for a straight auto shot, steady shot rotation. I have changed it now to use a rotation where Mutli-shot and arcane shot are used in place of a steady shot when available. Although this hasn't changed the order of the list for BM hunters, it does close the gap somewhat between slow and fast weapons as multi-shot does more damage with a slow weapon.

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Q u o t e:
While you're at it you should add MH/BT class weapons to the list for referrence as well =)

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Added.



Note: Obviously, in situations where you can't use multishot, the gap between the slow and the fast weapons get's bigger.

So haste rating affects this as well i guess meaning BM hunters should acquire enough to get from 2.9 to 2.6 for an optimum shot rotation?

Haste increases are great for BM hunters. The faster you can shoot the better, as long as you don't get quicker than the GCD (1.5 seconds).

But whether or not any items with haste on them are better than equivalents with AP/Agi/Crit etc would be outside the level of this post.

I'd reccomend Cheeky's dps calc spreadsheet (linked above) if that's something you want to look into in more detail. :)

Very interesting read.

Are these calculations done assuming zero latency?

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Q u o t e:
Are these calculations done assuming zero latency?

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At the level I've aimed this post at I've assumed a reasonable latency of 200ms.

Again, if you're interested in the effects of latency on your dps, Cheeky's spreadsheet will oblige.

you forget simple thing - steady shot depends on weapon damage...
so BM hunter with *fast* weapon will actually suck much more, due to steadyshotting from weapon with low top damage (as all fast weapons have)
it has always been and will be - BM hunter needs the slowest bow possible for insane steadyshots

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Q u o t e:
you forget simple thing - steady shot depends on weapon damage...
so BM hunter with *fast* weapon will actually suck much more, due to steadyshotting from weapon with low top damage (as all fast weapons have)
it has always been and will be - BM hunter needs the slowest bow possible for insane steadyshots

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Q u o t e:
Steady shot damage is calculated using a normalised weapon speed of 2.8.

What this means is that if you take two identical dps weapons, one with 2.8 speed and one with 2.0 speed, the steady shots fired from the two weapons will do exactly the same damage.

However, with the fast weapon you can fire more steady shots over a given time than with the slower weapon, greatly increasing your steady shot dps.

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Q u o t e:
you forget simple thing - steady shot depends on weapon damage...
so BM hunter with *fast* weapon will actually suck much more, due to steadyshotting from weapon with low top damage (as all fast weapons have)
it has always been and will be - BM hunter needs the slowest bow possible for insane steadyshots

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You are absolutely incorrect in this.

Steady shot is calcualted as:
SteadyShotDamage = 150 + (WeaponDamage/WeaponSpeed)*2.8 + 0.2*RAP

Let's take 2 imiaginary weapons, one fast with low damage, one slow with high damage, but with the same overall dps: Let's assume a RAP of 2000.

Fast Weapon:
2.0, 140 damage, 70 dps
Steady Shot damage = 150 + (140/2.0)*2.8 + (0.2*2000)
Steady Shot damage = 150 + 196 + 400
Steady Shot damage = 746

Slow Weapon:
3.0, 210 damage, 70 dps
Steady Shot damage = 150 + (210/3.0)*2.8 + (0.2*2000)
Steady Shot damage = 150 + 196 + 400
Steady Shot damage = 746

The result is that the steady shots from both the slower, harder hitting weapon and the faster, lighter weapon do exatly the same damage.

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Q u o t e:
you forget simple thing - steady shot depends on weapon damage...
so BM hunter with *fast* weapon will actually suck much more, due to steadyshotting from weapon with low top damage (as all fast weapons have)
it has always been and will be - BM hunter needs the slowest bow possible for insane steadyshots

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Dont buy char's from ebay
Or dont talk like u know anything please...

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Q u o t e:
12. Ancient Sin'dorei Longbow: 86.3 dps, 2.9 - Actual hunter dps: 849.97 dps

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This weapon is actually 3.00 speed.

Also taken into consideration when upgrading should be your haste rating,which has been added to numerous items and is relatively easy to acquire.

Nice thread, but in the end I still suggest whipping out Cheeky's awesome spreadsheet of awesomeness to personally evaluate whether or not something is actually an upgrade.

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Q u o t e:
I find it suspicious your cycles are totally ignoring the effect of mana on shot rotations.

I am using a pure auto/stead rotation with hunters marks and scorpid stings thrown in when I need to reapply them, and I already now have severe mana issues.

Using Multi-shots and arcane shots in addition to steady shot would just make me go /oom all the faster causing me to get alot of 'dead-time' while waiting for pot-cooldowns to go off. In other words, using anything but steady as a 'casted' damageshot in my rotation would mess up my mana conservation ability to the point where it will reduce my overall damage for a given boss encounter.

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This post isn't aimed at discussing mana conservation - it's to show how a weapons speed has more of a bearing on your total dps than the weapon's listed dps does, and for that I have used the highest dps rotations available.

But if mana conservation is a problem for you personally perhaps the Efficiency talent is worth a look at?

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Q u o t e:

Dont buy char's from ebay
Or dont talk like u know anything please...

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of course, crappy geared 1400 arena rated hunter
you are all wisdom
lol, just lol

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Q u o t e:


of course, crappy geared 1400 arena rated hunter
you are all wisdom
lol, just lol

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Im not gonna lie, but im playing for fun, with not the best team setups and spec (dohh xD),
But what your saying about the steady shot, is much more worse IMO

this is all nice, but lets step back into reality

as BM with serpent swiftness + IAotH my 2.8 weapon speed becomes 2.03 when just equipped
when IAotH proc its even lower, and with rapidfire it drops down to around 1.7-1.6
the GCD is 1.5

so, if you use 2.0 speed bow and apply all of that, you will drop below 1.5, effectily ruining your DPS completely, as you cannot even macrospam this to get steady shots inserted between autos
please stop advertising slow bows for BM, its rubbish
the slower the better, always been, always will be

Juggernaut, I do respect your will to help the Hunters out there with all of this reading, but please unless you are not very experienced in BM, dont discuss specs you didnt play much or dont know all aspects of

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Q u o t e:


You are absolutely incorrect in this.

Steady shot is calcualted as:
SteadyShotDamage = 150 + (WeaponDamage/WeaponSpeed)*2.8 + 0.2*RAP

Let's take 2 imiaginary weapons, one fast with low damage, one slow with high damage, but with the same overall dps: Let's assume a RAP of 2000.

Fast Weapon:
2.0, 140 damage, 70 dps
Steady Shot damage = 150 + (140/2.0)*2.8 + (0.2*2000)
Steady Shot damage = 150 + 196 + 400
Steady Shot damage = 746

Slow Weapon:
3.0, 210 damage, 70 dps
Steady Shot damage = 150 + (210/3.0)*2.8 + (0.2*2000)
Steady Shot damage = 150 + 196 + 400
Steady Shot damage = 746

The result is that the steady shots from both the slower, harder hitting weapon and the faster, lighter weapon do exatly the same damage.

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Q u o t e:


Im not gonna lie, but im playing for fun, with not the best team setups and spec (dohh xD),
But what your saying about the steady shot, is much more worse IMO

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read the explanation on the shots above