World of Warcraft: Dragonflight delivers a complete revamp of the game's talent system. Gone are the days of picking up a handful of talents every ten to fifteen levels. We're returning to World of Warcraft's roots, bringing back the classic talent tree with a modern twist. On the surface, it may not seem like an exciting marquee system for a new WoW expansion, but rest assured, people are excited about these Dragonflight talent trees.

What's New in Talents for WoW: Dragonflight?

The original World of Warcraft talent trees allowed for spec-only choices. Hunters, for example, could pick up 50+ points in the Survival tree while also dipping into a handful of talents in Marksmanship. With World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, there's been a slight change. Players have two separate talent trees: one for the class and another for the specific spec.

Class talent trees focus on core spells and abilities. Hunters are able to pick up a lot of their unique utility, flexibility, and survivability from this tree. Most of the talent choices will seem fairly obvious, depending on your playstyle. The Hunter class's beauty is that they can tackle anything you want in World of Warcraft. Whether playing PVP, PvE, Raids, Mythic +, or even just soloing content yourself, Hunters can do it all. This class talent tree offers the flexibility needed to let the Hunter class unlock its full potential.

On the Beast Mastery side, things feel a little cookie-cutter. While it's disappointing to see certain talents, especially keystones, that don't lie up to their full potential, there is still much to love here.

Talent Builds For Beast Mastery Hunter In Wow: Dragonflight

Since Dragonflight is still in the beta phase and Blizzard is still tweaking and tuning talents, as well as boss encounters, we're still figuring out what the absolute best choice is. Having said that, we've put together talent builds that maximize builds that focus on maximizing damage output and creating satisfying gameplay in PVE scenarios.

Beast Mastery Hunter Class Talents

Here is the Standard build for Beast Mastery Hunters In WoW: Dragonflight. We've also chosen a few variations of this build that offer more utility.

Standard Build

This will be the default "cookie-cutter" build for most raiders. It balances personal cooldowns for survivability, damage output, and crowd control. If you're looking to be a solid member of your raid team as a Beast Mastery Hunter, this will be the baseline build.

Standard Build With Utility

I mentioned earlier that there are some options for flexibility. This is the "cookie cutter" build that dips into Tar Trap and Tranq Shot, which will be useful in various circumstances over the AOE damage reduction. I removed a point in Pathfinding as well. These talents aren't 100% free, but you can be smart about where you spend your points to make the tradeoff easier.

Standard Build With Utility And Camouflage

My last point rings true if we want to pick up the Camouflage talent, which will be helpful for skips in Mythic+. It comes at the cost of both Pathfinding points.

Explanation Of Selected Talents

We'll cover our choices of class talents in order of the row they appear in on the talent UI in game.

Row 1

Kill Command is given to us by default, which is good since it's a core ability for the Hunter class. Concussive shot offers utility if you're focused on solo play or PVP, but in PVE, it's trivial. We'll pick up Kill Shot as it's a powerful execute that only gets better with talents.

Row 2:

Trailblazer sounds good on paper, but the Beast Mastery spec is renowned for its mobility. There's a good chance that this talent comes in handy for other specs; BM is not it, though. Speaking of mobility, Posthaste is a great utility talent to help players move out of damage. It also took us one row to buff our Kill Shot talent. Increasing its crit by 25% is a no-brainer.

Row 3:

Wilderness Medicine is a good talent if you're soloing content; you'll have plenty of ways to heal your pet during PVE encounters. Counter Shot is an interrupt that should be mandatory for every talent build. Hunters are picked for groups due to their ability to not just pump damage but also provide a ranged interrupt. Natural Mending is a solid personal cooldown to help keep you in the fight and mitigate incoming damage.

Row 4:

This row offers utility across the board. Tar Trap, Misdirection, and Survival of the Fittest are all wildly important talents. You may not always select them, specifically Tar Trap and Misdirect, but they are still an important part of your toolkit.

Row 5:

Tranquilizing shot has its moments, but for right now, there's no real need for it. As I said earlier, this is something that can be flexed in, and would only require Tar Trap to pick up. Without Tar Trap, Entrapment is useless. It's not a bad pick-up for solo content, though. Since you're going to be picking up Steel Trap later in the tree, buff it with Improved Traps. The Lone Survivor/Nature's Endurance node offers a choice. Lone Survivor gets the edge, as you get to use Survival of the Fittest more often. The same can be said in regards to Born To Be Wild. Survival is one of your most important personal cooldowns, and you want to have it available as often as possible.

Row 6:

The biggest row in the entire tree. Scare Beast is pretty much only applicable if you're soloing, and even then, it's not exciting. To be fair, it had some uses in Shadowlands content, but that's few and far between. If you're picking up Tranq Shot, you'll definitely want Improved Tranq Shot for the focus. Intimidation and High Explosive Trap sound good on paper, but in practice, they're just not worth it in PVE. For PVP and sololing? These are absolutely fantastic talents. Binding shot is a premiere CC ability that can group up enemies, allowing those with excellent AOE to go wild and crazy. Rejuvenating Winds helps buff your other personal cooldown, Natural Mending. Camoflauge has limited, but viable, uses in PVE scenarios, but truly shines when soloing or doing PVP.

Let's talk about Sentinel Owl for a second here. The BM and Survival versions are underpowered compared to the MM version, but it's still something that should be considered due to its ability to have your attacks ignore line of sight. That's something that just can't be ignored, especially when the improved version (more later) can either give the party leech or the entire party unhindered vision. I can't stress enough how huge that can be for certain fights.

Row 7:

Binding Shackles is a solid buff to certain crowd control abilities. It's not the best in the world, but it lets you open up the bottom left of the tree without having to spend multiple points on Tranq Shot talents. Hunter's Avoidance helps you take less damage. Pathfinding helps your already great mobility become even better by moving faster. Finally, there's the Sentinel Owl improvement I talked about above.

Row 8:

Beast Master increases your pet's damage while also opening up the nodes to two very good capstone talents. Keen Eyesight increases your crit. Crit is good. Master Marksman can add in a bleed effect whenever you crit.

Row 9:

Improved Kill Command does exactly what it says: improves Kill Command. Serrated Shots buff the damage from Serpent Sting, as well as your bleeds. Even if you don't get Serpent Sting, being able to buff your bleeds, which comes from the core BM ability Barbed Shot, is extremely beneficial. Arctic Bola allows you to literally throw an Arctic Bola at your target. Sounds absolutely cool, but as a Beast Mastery Hunter in Dragonflight, you honestly don't want the bottom right side of the tree. Sadly, that generally means that we won't be getting Serpent Sting.

Row 10:

The capstone talent row. These are supposed to be the best Dragonflight Hunter talents you can pick up.

Killer Instinct and Alpha Predator both buff Kill Command. While Killer Instinct helps you deal more damage to low-health enemies, Alpha Predator giving you two charges and increased damage is generally the preferred option. Steel Trap is a powerful stun that also causes a bleed, which is buffed from the Serrated Shots talent. Stampede is the coolest sounding talent, but it's just not where it needs to be, so you'll most likely be going with Death Chakram as a superior talent and better for your damage output. Explosive Shot/Barrage are solid talents, but don't fit the Beast Mastery profile. Poison Injection/Hydra's Bite are useless without Serpent's Sting and you're not getting Serpent's Sting.

Beast Mastery Hunter Specialization Talents

Here are some examples of Talent builds for Beast Mastery Hunters that will be popular in Dragonflight.

Standard Beast Mastery Build

This is your bread and butter "cookie-cutter" talent build for BM Hunters. If you're looking to get the job with no muss or fuss, this is the setup you'll be using to maximize your damage in default situations.

Dire Beast Hunter Build

Going all in on Dire Beast comes at a cost. We have to give up Wailing Arrow and Wild Call. If the numbers are there, it's worth it. Plus, it's an absolute blast having all of these beasts summoned by your side. That's part of the fantasy appeal of Beast Mastery, right? Summoning animals to do your bidding.

Explanation Of Selected Talents

We'll cover our choices of specialization talents in order of the row they appear in on the talent UI in-game.

Row 1:

Cobra Shot is the only talent available here, so you better get it if you want to unlock literally every other Beast Mastery Dragonflight talent!

Row 2:

You're going to want three of these talents. Pack Tactics help with Focus generation. Multi-Shot has been a core Hunter ability since day one of World of Warcraft and it's still very good. Barbed Shot is another core ability for your rotation. It gets buffed from talents in both trees.

Row 3:

Aspect of the Beast passively increases your damage and bufs other abilities. What's not to love about that? Kindred Spirits increases the focus of you and your pet. It used to be an important talent, but not so much with the new Dragonflight talent tree. Training Expert makes your pet do more damage. Again, what's not to love about that?

Row 4:

Animal Companion lets you have two pets out instead of one. Double your pleasure, double your fun! Beast Cleave has your pets perform cleave attacks after a Multi-Shot. For a class that's notorious when it comes to single-target damage, being able to cleave like this is huge. Killer Command buffs your Kill Command damage and Sharp Barbs buffs your Barbed Shot damage.

Row 5:

Cobra Sting can make your Kill Command completely free, but it's not worth it, especially due to its location on the talent tree. What is worth it, however, is Thrill of the Hunt giving you more Crit. Kill Cleave adding in a Cleave effect to your Kill Command is also well worth it. Murder of Crows/Bloodshed is a close cut, but ultimately falls short compared to the usefulness of other talents. As Cobra String isn't a major part of the rotation anymore, Cobra Senses just isn't worth it.

Row 6:

Dire Beast has seen a lot of discussion during Dragonflight beta. It helps create a fun and engaging playstyle, but many have mentioned its not as powerful as a "cookie cutter" default build. The other talents in this row, Bestial Wrath (it's still good!) and War Orders (increased Barbed Shot damage and resetting the Kill Command cooldown), are staple talents.

Row 7:

If you're making a talent build based around maximizing Kill Shot, Hunter's Prey is the talent for you. Stomp gives your pets more cleave damage, which is always great. Barbed Wrath shortens the cooldown of Bestial Wrath, a key cooldown. Wild Call has the ability to reduce the cooldown on your Barbed Shots. Aspect of the Wild helps to buff Cobra Shot, but you're not using that ability too much, so more often than not, this is a pass.

Row 8:

Dire Command is a proc where your Kill Command may summon a Dire Beast. The strength of this talent is solely off of the strength of Dire Beast. Scent of Blood gives you an immediate two charges of Barbed Shot when you pop Bestial Wrath. One with the Call gives you a chance to reset the Barbed Shot cooldown, but it's not really exciting or worth it. Master Handler/Snake Bite buffs your Aspect of the Wild.

Row 9:

Dire Frenzy is another buff for Dire Beast. Wailing Arrow is now a Beast Mastery talent, and it's a big one. This is a huge reason as to why the Dragonflight talent trees are a welcome addition to the game: they allow for "borrowed power"-type abilities to remain in the game. Brutal Companion allows Barbed Shot to pile up stacks of Frenzy, buffing pet damage. Call of the Wild summons more pets by your side for a short time.

Row 10:

The capstone talent row. These are supposed to be the best Dragonflight Beast Mastery Hunter talents you can pick up.

Dire Pack is another Dire Beast talent. This capstone reduces the Kill Command cooldown for every five Dire Beasts you summoned, as well as reducing the overall cooldown and Focus cost of Kill Command. Killer Cobra/Piercing Fangs is a dual node, and I don't know why you would take Killer Cobra. As a talent that affects Cobra Shots, we're ignoring everything else here for the most part. Plus, Piercing Fangs' ability to increase your pet's critical strike during Bestial Wrath is too good to pass up. Wild Instincts/Bloody Frenzy all offer different buffs to Call of the Wild, which in itself isn't worth the pickup.

Stay tuned for more WoW Dragonflight content. For now, check out our WoW WotLK Classic Directory!