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Beast Mastery Basics

Beast Mastery Hunters were the champions of single-target DPS in Burning Crusade Classic. They topped the damage meters on many fights and were some of the best options available for dishing out damages. However, it came at a cost as they lacked the utility and buffs other classes provide. That shortcoming, alongside nerfs in Classic Wrath of the Lich King, represents a downswing for the effectiveness of the BM spec for Hunters. They'll have some usefulness in speedrunning applications or shorter-length fights. Generally, however, they are the worst option for Hunters.

This guide will focus specifically on level 80 content and abilities. It will be updated throughout the Wrath of the Lich King expansion as more content rolls out.

If you haven't seen our basic Hunter PvE Guide for Wrath Classic yet, check this out as well. It will have additional information that may not be covered in this specialization-specific guide.

Important New and Reworked Talents and Abilities

Auto Shot - A huge change for hunters in Wrath of the Lich King is how Auto Shot works with Hunters. Previously, Hunters would have to ensure they don't "clip" their auto shots. Essentially, players would have to ensure they're not using any other abilities on your attack timer to always auto shot on time. If you interrupted the automatic attacks, this was known as "clipping," and it was a DPS loss. That's all a thing of the past now; your Auto Shot will attack even when using abilities such as Steady Shot that have a cast timer. This is a very welcome update for the class.

Kill Shot - One of the most important additions for Hunters in Classic Wrath. This serves as a much needed execute for the class, allowing players to ramp up their damage when enemies are below 20%.

Volley - This now scales with your ranged attack power. This formerly useless ability now allows Hunters to deal respectable AOE damage when appropriate.

Bestial Wrath - Nerfed to reduce its duration from 18 seconds to 10 seconds.

Cobra Strikes - This new talent helps buff the damage from your pet by guaranteeing critical attacks.

Kindred Spirits - The rework helps to increase your pet's damage, as well as movement speed.

Longevity - Reducing the cooldown on Bestial Wrath and other key abilities by 30% is huge.

Talent Build for Beast Mastery Hunters in WotLK

This is the default talent build for Beast Mastery Hunters as they begin endgame content Wrath of the Lich King Classic, complete with the ideal glyphs as well.

It's important not to neglect your pets. They, too, have an ideal talent build. Beast Mastery Hunters will have extra talents available for their pets.

You'll want to use a Wolf as your pet due to the benefit of Furious Howl. A Devilsaur will be a close second in terms of overall DPS output.

Beast Mastery Hunter Rotation and Cooldowns

The rotations for Beast Mastery Hunters are fairly easy in Classic Wrath of the Lich King. Since the spec doesn't have the additional abilities compared to Marksmanship or Survival, it's a more simplified rotation.

Single Target Rotation

1. Kill Shot - your highest priority ability. Only usable when the target is below 20%.
2. Multi-Shot - On any cleave fight or encounters with multiple targets, this is your most important ability. If you're low on mana on single-target, you can skip this.
3. Serpent Sting - Open with this and always make sure the debuff is on your target. You will not be able to reapply the debuff with Chimera Shot so keep that in mind
4. Arcane Shot - Cast this after your Multi-Shot and Serpent Sting.
5. Steady Shot - Your filler ability while you wait for everything to come off of cooldown. If you're low on mana, this is a good alternative to Multi-Shot.

AOE Rotation

1. Explosive Trap - Try your best to place the trap in the middle of the pack to ensure hitting the maximum amount of enemies.
2. Volley - Cast this on repeat until you're out of mana.

Cooldowns

Hunters have a wide variety of options available for their cooldowns in terms of both utility and damage output. Their toolkit continues to be impressive, even when their DPS output starts to decline.

• Misdirection has been reworked to now transfer threat for a full four seconds, rather than the next three attacks.
• Bestial Wrath may have received a nerf, but its still an incredibly effective cooldown to use
• Rapid Fire is as beneficial as it has ever been.
• Readiness is now a Marksmanship talent, having been moved over from the Survival tree.
• Orcs and Trolls have the racial abilities Blood Fury and Berserking respectively.
• Call of the Wild is a 5 minute cooldown available from the Ferocity tree for pet talents.
• Potion of Wild Magic is the preferred potion cooldown. Keep in mind that Wrath of the Lich King reworks how potions work; you can no longer use them every two minutes in a fight, so be sure to use them before combat to get double use out of them.

WotLK Hunter Stat Priority

The most important stats for Beast Mastery Hunters in Wrath of the Lich King Classic are as follows, in order:

• Hit Rating
• Attack Power
• Agility
• Critical Strike
• Armor Penetration
• Intellect
• Haste

You will always need to make sure you're at hit cap to ensure you'll never miss any of your attacks. The hit cap is an overall 8% rating. With the Focused Aim talent, you only need 5% hit from gear. With Draenei in your party or raid, you'll only need 4% hit from gear.

Best In Slot Gear for Hunters in Wrath Classic

To see what your Best in Slot gear is for the Beast Master Hunter, please see our Hunter BIS guide.