What every buff is worth in real Mythic+ keys

What each buff contributed in real high keys

Each row is one class, measured across up to the top 20 unique group comps it tops keys in, ranked by Mythic+ score, each comp counted once. Some classes run fewer distinct comps than that at the top, so their bar rests on fewer runs; hover a bar for the count. The calculation is based on the actual value of each buff to every spec present in the comp: debuffs are measured on the damage that actually went into their windows, and Power Infusion is credited to whoever actually received it, assuming the Priest timed it well. The bar goes from the worst comp to the best and the tick marks the median, all as a share of total group damage.

Hunter's Mark is measured on the damage that actually went into marked targets, and it ranks with every other buff here: near the bottom. Bloodlust is counted as the gain over Drums, because anyone can carry Drums; the Hunter only gets credit for the difference, and Shaman, Mage and Evoker all bring it too. The bars above are damage buffs only, so the Bloodlust those three also bring is not counted in them. Mystic Touch lands near the bottom of its range in the comps Monks actually top keys in: in the current meta comp of Midnight Season 1, Mistweaver Monk is brought for its own damage and not its buff. Skyfury swings hardest with comp: near worthless in an all-caster group, one of the biggest buffs in the game in a melee comp (see the per spec sims). Power Infusion is measured from who the Priests actually gave it to in their top runs, valued with the per spec PI sims. Add it all up: the other classes' buffs each contributed 2.5% of group damage on average. The Hunter's whole kit, Bloodlust included, contributed 2.1%.

Hunter's Mark in the best Hunter runs in the world

The top 3 Hunter runs per spec in every Season 1 dungeon, 72 runs total, measured the same way. The full bar length is what the average raid buff from the other classes contributed (2.5%). The fill is Hunter's Mark. Click any row to open that dungeon's public Hunter rankings on Warcraft Logs. Hover for how much of the group's damage went into marked targets.

Across all 72 runs: median 0.87% of group damage, best case 1.17%, worst case 0.40%. Why so low? Only 29% of group damage went into marked targets on average, and the modifier is 3% to begin with. 3% of a third of your damage is not a raid buff, it is a rounding error.

Mage has the same weakness

Mage is also a pure DPS class, and Arcane Intellect also has a weakness, it only affects the Intellect users in the group. So here is the same measurement across the top 72 Mage runs.

Top Mage comps ran about 3 Intellect players including the healer, and Arcane Intellect measured a median 1.60% of group damage, best case 2.47%. One mechanical point in Hunter's favor: Hunter's Mark buffs all damage into the marked target, while Arcane Intellect is nearly worthless if the Mage is the only caster in the group. But the sheer magnitude difference makes up for the mechanics: even in its comp-dependent reality, Arcane Intellect delivers about twice what Hunter's Mark does. And the Mage brings Bloodlust on top.

The case study: bring a second Outlaw instead

A real timed Maisara Caverns +24 (anonymized log). The buff meter moves every buff's contribution to the class that brings it, so the last column is what each player actually adds to the group. The two rows to compare are in bold: the Survival Hunter and the Outlaw Rogue.

Spec	Logged DPS	Gives the group	Real contribution
Fury Warrior	238,910	+33,946	251,043
Outlaw Rogue	283,710	+0	245,928
Survival Hunter	251,064	+12,212	233,022
Guardian Druid	175,788	+24,276	184,135
Mistweaver Monk	67,046	+38,750	102,390

This is not a complaint about Rogue damage. The point is that Hunter pays for a real raid buff slot with a buff that is worth a tenth of one, so in any group comparison Hunter starts two to three percent of group damage behind before anyone presses a button. Blizzard tunes Hunter's own damage as if Hunter's Mark were a real contribution. It is not.

The proposal: replace Hunter's Mark with a crit damage buff

This page is asking for Hunter's Mark to become a real buff, not for Hunter damage buffs, and here is a concrete one, with the numbers to back it: your critical strikes deal 5% more damage. Nothing else in the game buffs crit damage, and it fits the class. The numbers come straight from logs: in the top 10 Hunter runs, 49% of all group damage came from critical strikes (45 to 54%, very consistent). A crit damage buff is worth its percentage times that share. Here is the same ranking as above with Hunter's Mark removed and the proposal in its place:

3% crit damage is worth about 1.5% of group damage, still bottom tier. 5% lands at 2.4%, right at Chaos Brand and just under the 2.5% average buff, which is exactly where a fair fix belongs. 6% would be 2.9%, Mark of the Wild tier. With Bloodlust on top, a 5% crit damage buff finally makes bringing a Hunter a real choice without it needing to be overtuned to pull its weight. The fallback option stays on the table: keep Hunter's Mark a debuff but let it mark every target the Hunter hits; full coverage would put the existing 3% in line with the other buffs too.