Mana Efficiency
Mana efficiency seems to have been addressed heavily over the last 2 years and yet all the options are rarely mentioned. Below are the items and techniques that I have used during TBC. Maybe you’ll find something here that will hold off that viper usage at during a DPS phase.
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Fel Mana Potions
Fel mana potions are the obvious choice for all raiding hunters but are often used improperly. Most people will wait until they are 3000 or 4000 mana down before using a potion. While this may seem like a good idea, you are minimising the amount of mana you can get from potions over an extended period of time. Fel mana potions have a large advantage over other mana gains and not only because they restore more mana than anything else. The advantage is that the mana is received over time instead of in a single block. That means that while the potion restores 3200 mana, you can use it before you are 3200 mana down and not have any wasted gain. Generally the perfect time to start chaining fel mana potions is when you are 1500-2000 mana down. You will use the excess as the potion restores it and will be able to use a longer potion rotation.

Dark Runes
Dark runes work on the same cooldown as a healthstone. This means you can chain them along with whatever potion rotation you may be using. They are not recommended for some fights that you want your healthstone cooldown available for but there are many fights where your entire healthstone cooldown is completely unused or not used to it’s full potential.

Aspect of the Viper
Aspect of the viper is a great ability but it is often misused. The main thing to remember is that any aspect comes with a cost. That cost is the simple fact that you cannot use 2 aspects at a time. Ideally you want aspect of the hawk to be used whenever you are in a DPS phase of any fight or you loose a large chunk of DPS. You want to be able to use the other mana efficiency choices on this page to try to avoid ever having to use viper during a DPS phase although if your mana drops to below 500 or so and you have no fel mana potion or dark rune close to being up then viper is the obvious choice. If you get to this point however, then you’re generally doing something wrong. The only truly acceptable use of viper is during downtime in fights. That basically means things such as the following…

• When you’re spreading out during the demon phase on Illidan, viper goes up.
• When you’re out of range on Supremus, viper goes up.
• When you’re running around from fatal attraction on Mother, viper goes up.

Any phase of a fight when you’re not causing damage for a decent amount of time, viper goes up. Other than that, it’s pretty much hawk all the way.

Mana Oils
Mana oils are cheap and don’t require any measure of timing. Every hunter should use them and they are not worth enough to be hesitant when thinking about using them. The only reason for not using mana oils is when you’re using righteous oils for Sunwell.

Weapon Swapping
Swapping weapons is a technique that was used back in the Molten Core days. It seems to have been forgotten nowadays. Whether that is because it simply fell out of fashion or because there are few old hunters left, I don’t know. It is similar to what hunters do in arenas but in reverse. In an arena, a hunter will switch on intellect weapons when he’s low on mana for viper regeneration. In a raid environment the technique revolves around buffing your overall mana pool by at least 900 for the first 10 or 15 seconds. This means you can get off your marks, misdirects, pull shots and the first few shots in your rotation without giving up mana from your usual pool. As soon as you’ve either used up the mana that the weapons give you or as soon as you think it is required, switch on your main DPS weapons and drop into your usual play style. Personally I have dual Breaching Comets socketed and enchanted with intellect for this usage.

Black Bow of the Betrayer
Of course the BBotB (BBB) will only be available to post Illidan end game hunters but it is a valuable tool for those of us that have it. Even hunters that use sunwell bows keep it to use in certain situations. You shouldn’t be using it over a full damage bow if your goal is to min/max your damage in the short term. On the other hand, you shouldn’t be equiping it when you’re already out of mana either. You need to be able to know how your specific mana bar works, how much mana you use per 5 shots, how quickly your bar will disappear as well as the timing of your fel mana potions and dark runes. Generally I find that if I’m under 4000 mana and my mana restores have a decent cooldown left, then it is a perfect time to swap on the bow. The key to the BBotB is optimal usage.