I see you can still download the hotfixes for 8.5 and also that SP3 is available.
the dates on the hotfixes seem to be earlier than the SP3 date so wanted to make sure if i need to apply the hotfixes or if applying the SP3 was all that was needed.
You shouldn't be on 8.5. You should be on 8.5.1 with SP3. That is the latest release with the most up-to-date fixes.
thanks for the response my SA said i might want to load the hotfixes to try and fix my issue with the website. then I thought about the SP3 and thought i should ask first.