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Hunter was constantly running out of mana, stopping for drinks really slows down grinding. A Hunter's life without mana is no fun; DPS drops like a stone, no pet heals and no feign death and so on. Understang mana regeneration is the key to effective mana conservation. Although most cloth wearers know this instinctively, very few Hunter guides talk about it.
Spirit is very important for grinding. High Intellect will give you a high starting mana while a high spirit will give you a better rate of mana regeneration. It's nice to have a good bit of both but in the long run properly used spirit will keep you going further if you understand the five second rule. When grinding easy mobs, our goal is to finish each fight with the same mana you start with no downtime at all.
Spirit will regenerate mana during combat but no regeneration happens for 5 seconds after a spell is cast. The five seconds timer runs from the point at which the spell stops using mana. This is important. Aimed shot draws mana at the end of the 3 second load up- mana regeneration happens during those three seconds but not for five seconds after. Heal pet draws mana at the start but by the end of the channeling period the five seconds is almost up and mana regeneration starts quickly.
Fire special shots / abilities in bursts rather than space them out. Maximizing the amount of time is the key to getting the most out of spirit for which mana is regenerating. A worst case scenario would be to fire exactly the ability every five seconds. This would result in no mana regeneration at all. Using a bunch of special abilities and wait for mana regeneration to act before firing the next bunch is the better way to do it. Multi-shot with its 10 second cool down allows for a nice bit of mana regeneration and can be used as a timer if you finish your burst of special shots with a multi.
In order to maximize mana regeneration time, you must pick the order of your shots carefully. For example, aimed shot should be used at the start of a burst of abilities so you are regenerating during the 3 second load up. Heal pet should be used at the end so that regeneration starts soon after you finish channeling.
You should be sure that you are regenerating mana fully for the whole time between fights. In the time it takes to walk to a corpse, loot it, select a new target and send in your pet you can regenerate a lot of mana, providing that you haven't stopped your mana regeneration by using a spell during this time. This goes against the grain for many Hunters who are used to using Hunter's Mark or even laying a trap in preparation for a fight.
