This post is backdated to the date of the original post. It was imported to this blog on May 20, 2014.
There have been a lot of questions about Beast Mastery hunter DPS, specs and gear over the last few months and I find the same advice being repeated, so I think it’s about time to do another BM Guide for Wrath.
This is for Pre-patch 3.1, after 3.1 things WILL change and I’ll revise it then.
I am a BM hunter and have always been one, so I don’t trust myself on giving much MM/Survival advice. If you ask me for specific advice with those specs I’ll just point you to other websites or raiders here.
***Note: Beast Mastery is NOT the highest DPS hunter spec currently and you will be lower on the charts than other players putting out the same effort as you are. It still is decent damage, but no longer top. We have to wait until 3.1 to see if we can finally be competitive again. If you are looking for top DPS slot you need to be researching Survival.***
– Links
– Add-ons and Spreadsheets
– Stats
– Gems
– Enchants
– Raid Supplies
– Glyphs
– Talents
– Pet
– Shot Rotation
– Other Macros
– A typical raid boss
– Beginning Wrath Gear & Reps
– WoW_Ladies Hunter Tag
– The Hunting Lodge
– Elitist Jerks
– TKASomething
– TKASomething – How to find out what you’re doing wrong
– Aspect of the Hare (Hunter category)
– Petopia
– Shandara’s spreadsheet – How to use the spreadsheet– This is pretty large and possibly confusing, but taking some time with the threads and the Search button can prove to be very fruitful.
Required-
– RatingBuster – shows the difference between one gear piece versus another. Turn off enchants and maybe gems (as they can possibly skew results when you’re comparing a gemmed item vs a new item with no gems in the sockets yet) – however I usually leave Gems on and just mentally calculate any differences there might be.
Recommended-
Spell Alerts:
– PowerAuras – (How to customize) Provides visual cues (auras) when you gain buffs, debuffs and many more. Extremely customizable. Works for all classes.
– GhostPulse – “Pulses” icons or text on your screen when abilities come off cooldown. Works for all classes.
Range Indicator:
– Nudge – Range indicator. Very simple, just colors and text.
– cRange2 – (How to customize it) Range indicator with actual number ranges displayed, works for all classes.
Viper/Hawk Notification:
– cAspectOfTheViper – Viper or Hawk icons will show up when you need to switch to them.
Others:
– dHunterTool – Does LOTS of things including: Aspect reminder when you don’t have one up, Toggles Tracking based on target for when you have the talent, Removes Aspect of the Cheetah or Pack when you or your party gets dazed, can announce MD, dispels or traps to party/raid, Feign Death resist notifications
– SimpleMD – Broadcast your misdirection casts to the other hunters with you, specific channels or the raid.
– Quartz – Lightweight implementation of a standard casting bar, with configurable size, text and icon positioning, and colors.
Hit > AP > Agility > Crit > ArP > Int > Haste > mp5 > Stamina
– Hit is the most important stat currently as it effects both our pets and our own ability to hit bosses. Read through the Hit Rating List for specific breakdowns of how much you need when.
– Attack Power provides the best amount of conversion to our abilities and our pets currently.
– Agility provides attack power and crit, however with scaling difference between 70 and 80 the crit it provides is not enough to make it better than AP.
– Critical Strike Rating is important as always, take it when you can get it.
– Armor Penetration is currently pretty useless, but if it ends up on a piece of gear it’s not the end of the world.
– Intellect provides mana, regen (via Viper and Replenishment), and when specced into the Careful Aim talent, Attack Power.
– Haste is not very good for BM as with our talent Serpent’s Swiftness we are at 1.5 second casting time on Steady Shot extremely quickly. However it still does affect your Auto Shot’s speed.
– mp5 is never something to seek out, you might end up with it incidentally on your gear via meeting a meta gem requirement or something.
– Stamina is OK on items, but the above are more important. Health will come as you get better gear.
Level 80 Stat Conversions:
1 Attack Power = 1 RAP
1 Agi = 1 AP
1 Agility = 0.012 Critical Strike Rating
45.91 Critical Strike Rating = +1% Critical Hit
83.3 Agility = +1% Critical Hit
75.19 Agi = +1% Dodge
1 Agility = 2 Armor
Haste Rating needed for +1% Haste = 32.79
15.39 ArPen Rating = 1% Armor Reduction
32.79 Hit Rating = 1% Hit
Gem bible: http://elitistjerks.com/f74/t39733-wotlk_gem_index/
Red:
[Bright Scarlet Ruby] – +32 AP
Yellow:
[Rigid Autumn’s Glow] (*if severely under hit cap.) – +16 Hit
Blue:
Not recommended.
Orange:
[Pristine Monarch Topaz] (*if not hit capped) +16 AP / 8 Hit
[Wicked Monarch Topaz] (*if hit capped) +16 AP / 8 Crit
Purple:
[Infused Twilight Opal] +16 AP / 3 mp5
[Balanced Twilight Opal] (*if mana is a non-factor) +16 AP / 12 Stam
Green:
[Lambent Forest Emerald] (*if not hit capped) +8 Hit / 3 mp5
[Vivid Forest Emerald] (*if not hit capped, and mana is a non-factor) +8 Hit / 12 Stam
[Sundered Forest Emerald] (*if hit capped) +8 Crit / 3 mp5
[Jagged Forest Emerald] (*if hit capped, and mana is a non-factor) +8 Crit / 12 Stam
*Green gems are only advisable if to satisfy Meta requirement for both 1 Yellow and 1 Blue gem value. However, when using rare quality gems, using a prismatic gem is generally superior to available greens.
Prismatic:
[Bright Dragon’s Eye] (*Jewelcrafting only) +54 AP
[Rigid Dragon’s Eye] (*if severly under hit cap, Jewelcrafting only) + 27 Hit
[Enchanted Tear] +6 to all stats
*A prismatic gem will fill all the requirements for Meta gem
Meta:
[Relentless Earthsiege Diamond] +21 agility & 3% increased critical damage
Don’t forget to get enchants once you feel you have gear that is worth it. You might even want to just find an enchanter who will be willing to DE all your greens, so that way you most likely don’t have to buy any mats (I donate all greens and shards to my boyfriend and he does my enchants).
http://www.brigwyn.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=149&t=1556
Listed from best to worst-
Head
Arcanum of Torment: +50 AP +20 Crit (Knights of the Ebon Blade – Revered)
Arcanum of Ferocity: +34 AP +16 Hit (Cenarion Expedition – Revered)
Shoulders
Greater Inscription of the Axe: +40 AP +15 Crit (Sons of Hodir – Exalted)
Lesser Inscription of the Axe: +30 AP +10 Crit (Sons of Hodir – Honored)
Greater Inscription of Vengeance: +30 AP +10 Crit (The Aldor – Exalted)
Greater Inscription of the Blade: +20 AP +15 Crit (The Scryers – Exalted)
Back
Major Agility: +22 Agi
Superior Agility: +16 Agi
Greater Speed: +23 Haste
Chest
Powerful Stats: +10 Agi/Int/Spi/Sta/Str
Super Stats: +8 Agi/Int/Spi/Sta/Str
Wrist
Fur Lining – Attack Power: +114 AP ~Leatherworking only~
Greater Assault: +50 AP
Hands
Crusher: +44 AP
Precision: +20 Hit
Major Agility: +20 Agi
Greater Assault: +35 AP
Waist
Eternal Belt Buckle: +1 Socket
Legs
Nerubian Leg Reinforcements: +75 AP +22 Crit ~Leatherworking only~
Icescale Leg Armor: +75 AP +22 Crit
Nerubian Leg Armor: +55 AP +15 Crit
Feet
Icewalker: +12 Hit +12 Crit
Surefooted: +10 Hit +10 Crit
Greater Assault: +32 AP
Superior Agility: +15 Agi
Finger
Assault: +32 AP ~Enchanter only~
Melee
Weapon – Accuracy: +25 Hit +25 Crit
Weapon – Superior Potency: +65 AP
Weapon – Greater Potency: +50 AP
Weapon – Exceptional Agility: +26 Agi
Weapon – Major Intellect: +30 Int
2H Weapon – Massacre: +110 AP
2H Weapon – Greater Savagery: +85 AP
2H Weapon – Major Agility: +35 Agi
Titanium Weapon Chain: +28 Hit
Ranged
Heartseeker Scope: +40 Crit
[Biznicks 247×128 Accurascope]: +30 Hit
Sun Scope: +40 Haste
Diamond-cut Refractor Scope: +15 damage
Buff Food: – 1 or 2 stacks of your choice
What you should use-
Recipe: Mega Mammoth Meal – 80 AP
Recipe: Poached Northern Sculpin – 80 AP
Recipe: Fish Feast – 80 AP
Recipe: Snapper Extreme – 40 Hit (if not hit capped this provides 1.22% hit at 80)
Recipe: Worg Tartare– 40 hit (if not hit capped this provides 1.22% hit at 80)
What you can use-
Recipe: Blackened Dragonfin – 40 agi
Recipe: Imperial Manta Steak – 40 haste
Recipe: Very Burnt Worg – 40 haste
Recipe: Hearty Rhino – 40 ArP
Recipe: Spiced Wyrm Burger – 40 crit
Recipe: Spicy Blue Nettlefish – 40 crit
Pet-
Recipe: Spiced Mammoth Treats – 30 Str
Recipe: Kibler’s Bits – 30 Str
Flasks/Elixirs:
Flask of Endless Rage – 180 AP
Battle-
Wrath Elixir – 90 AP
Guru’s Elixir – 20 to all stats
Elixir of Mighty Agility – 45 Agi
Elixir of Accuracy – 45 Hit
Elixir of Armor Piercing – 45 ArP
Elixir of Deadly Strikes – 45 Crit
Elixir of Lightning Speed – 45 Haste
Guardian-
Elixir of Mighty Thoughts – 45 Int
Elixir of Mighty Mageblood – 24 mp5
Potion of Speed – Haste by 500 for 15 secs
Major Glyphs–
1) Glyph of Bestial Wrath – Decreases the cooldown of Bestial Wrath by 20 seconds.
– With this glpyh and Longevity the cooldown is only 1.17 seconds, which lines up nicely with Kill Command’s 1 minute cooldown.
2) Glyph of Steady Shot– Increases the damage dealt by Steady Shot by 10% when your target is afflicted with Serpent Sting.
– Pretty straight forward. This is why Serpent Sting is in the BM rotation.
3) Glyph of Improved Aspect of the Hawk– Increases the haste bonus of the Improved Aspect of the Hawk effect by an additional 6%.
or
Glyph of Serpent Sting– Increases the duration of your Serpent Sting by 6 seconds.
– I prefer Hawk.
Minor Glyphs–
1) Glyph of Mend Pet– Your Mend Pet spell increases your pet’s happiness slightly.
– IS CURRENTLY BUGGED- If you have points in the Improved Mend Pet talent it DOES NOT grant happiness. When it’s not bugged it’s the most amazing thing ever though.
The other two minors are really, pretty useless, but I use:
Glyph of Feign Death (cooldown of FD decreased by 5 seconds) and Glyph of Revive Pet (no pushback while casting Revive Pet).
Raiding Spec-
I favor 52/12/7 spec which came from this thread.
Required points in any BM raiding spec-
Beast Mastery Tree:
5/5 Improved Aspect of the Hawk
2/2 Focused Fire
1/1 Aspect Mastery
5/5 Unleased Fury
5/5 Ferocity
1/1 Intimidation
2/2 Beastial Discipline
2/2 Animal Handler
4/5 Frenzy
3/3 Ferocious Inspiration
1/1 Beastial Wrath
5/5 Serpent Swiftness
3/3 Longevity
1/1 The Beast Within
5/5 Kindred Spirits
Improved Mend Pet and Improved Revive Pet: Improved Revive Pet is almost 100% required, because if your pet dies, you have to get them back up ASAP. Mend is a great place to put the 1 filler point in order to have the Dispel ability.
Why not Thick Hide?: Armor is almost useless in raiding for hunters, the points that would be spent to get this talent would be better spent getting stamina (which works against ALL forms of damage) and/or pet healing/reviving talents.
Animal Handler and Frenzy: 2/2 Animal Handler is our only way to increase our pet’s expertise. 4/5 Frenzy has been shown to keep the effect up plenty and full 2/2 AH is better than 5/5 Frenzy.
Marksman Tree:
5/5 Lethal Shots
3/3 Careful Aim
1/2 Go for the Throat
Go for the Throat: 1/2 Go for the Throat is enough for most raiding hunters.
Mortal Shots: No longer works with Auto Shot. As BM Auto Shot is our largest portion of our damage because of our talented haste and the way gear is currently. It IS good to put points into it, but not at the expense of some of the other talents.
Leveling-
If I were going to be leveling a hunter from scratch, I would probably use a build sort of like this.
Not recommended for instancing or level 80 group play.
Beast Mastery Tree:
2/2 Focused Fire
1/1 Aspect Mastery
5/5 Unleased Fury
5/5 Ferocity
2/2 Improved Mend Pet
2/2 Spirit Bond
1/1 Intimidation
2/2 Beastial Discipline
4/5 Frenzy
1/1 Beastial Wrath
5/5 Serpent Swiftness
1/1 The Beast Within
5/5 Kindred Spirits
Improved Aspect of the Hawk: Not very useful while soloing.
Spirit Bond: Is the most amazing soloing talent like…ever.
Beast Mastery: Is really nice for the extra pet talent points (more damage out of tank pets for me), but it depends how long it takes you to get that far down in the tree.
Do everything you can to make sure your pet lives. As BM they provide 35-50% of your damage.
Spec:
For raiding:
http://www.wowhead.com/?petcalc=0md00fc00hoo
2/2 Cobra Reflexes
2/2 Bloodthirsty
3/3 Spiked Collar
3/3 Avoidance
3/3 Spider’s Bite
1/1 Rabid
1/1 Call of the Wild
Which pet type?
Ferocity type: Cats and Raptors are highest currently. Devilsaurs if you have Beast Mastery.
For soloing:
http://www.wowhead.com/?petcalc=0hzGbrM0b
1/1 Charge
3/3 Great Stamina
2/2 Blood of the Rhino
2/2 Natural Armor
2/2 Pet Barding
2/2 Guard Dog
2/2 Grace of the Mantis
Which pet type?
Tenacity: Gorillas are king currently with their AoE Thunderstomp ability which causes extra threat to all enemies. Post 3.1 all Tenacity pets will be able to learn it thorugh talents.
Buffs: – to get the maximum DPS from your pet, these are the most important buffs they can get
1) Blessing of Might
2) Blessing of Kings
3) Kibler’s Bits or Spiced Mammoth Treats
Keeping your pet alive:
This post by
Macros for you and your pet:
Pet Attack Instance
/petattack
/cast Hunter’s Mark
Master’s Call– 1) Casts MC on the player your mouse (or player frame) is over.
2) Casts MC on your target if you have one, even if you have a focus.
3) Casts it on your focus if you don’t have a target or your target is not friendly.
4) Casts it on you if you don’t have a target or a focus.
#showtooltip
/cast [target=mouseover,help,exists][target=target,help,exists][target=focus,exists][target=player] Master’s Call
Feed/Mend– Puts Feed and Mend Pet into one button. Out of combat, holding Shift when clicking will cast Mend Pet otherwise it is the “Bone” icon for you to choose which food, in combat it will cast Mend Pet. The tooltip changes based on what skill is going to be used.
#showtooltip
/cast [modifier:shift,nocombat] Mend Pet; [nocombat] Feed Pet; [combat] Mend Pet
Call/Dismiss/Revive– Puts Call, Dismiss and Revive Pet into one button. Holding Shift when clicking will cast Revive Pet (this is for when there’s no pet body for it to target). If there isn’t a pet it’ll Call them, if they’re dead and their body is still there it’ll Revive them, if the pet is alive and out it will Dismiss them. The tooltip changes based on what skill is going to be used.
#showtooltip
/cast [modifier:shift] Revive Pet; [nopet] Call Pet; [target=pet,dead] Revive Pet; [target=pet,exists] Dismiss Pet
Example of how the tooltips change:
Or rather, “Shot Priority” now as it’s not a proper order or timing, nor can it be macroed into one button anymore.
Kill Shot > Multi-Shot > Arcane Shot > Serpent Sting > Steady Shot
When Kill Shot can be used, you’re hitting it, then Multi-Shot, then Arcane, then keeping Serpent up and then spamming Steady in between. If Multi is off of cooldown and Serpent needs to be reapplied, I shoot Multi and then Serpent. It is prioritizing the highest damage shots first. Auto Shot is not linked to anything else anymore so there is no worry about timing.
This is what I use PowerAuras for (Addons) to display visual indicators on screen for when they’re ready to shoot so I can get them off as soon as possible.
In 5 mans, 10 mans or groups/raids short on Replenishment, it’s probably best to not use Multi-Shot for the bad mana efficiency. In 25s I’m overflowing with regen though.
Macro Kill Shot to Multi, Arcane and Steady:
#showtooltip Multi-Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent(“UI_ERROR_MESSAGE”);
/cast Kill Shot
/cast Multi-Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent(“UI_ERROR_MESSAGE”)
#showtooltip Arcane Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent(“UI_ERROR_MESSAGE”);
/cast Kill Shot
/cast Arcane Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent(“UI_ERROR_MESSAGE”)
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent(“UI_ERROR_MESSAGE”);
/cast Kill Shot
/cast Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent(“UI_ERROR_MESSAGE”)
It doesn’t cause the GCD (yet, will after 3.1), so you can shoot it and another shot at the exact same time.
Set Focus– Sets your current target as your focus.
/focus target
Misdirection– Casts Misdirection on your focus if there is one, if not then it casts it on your pet if there is one.
#showtooltip
/cast [target=focus,exists,nodead][target=pet,exists,nodead] Misdirection
Misdirection– Casts Misdirection on your focus if there is one.
#showtooltip
/cast [help][target=focus,exists]Misdirection
AP food
Pet gets Kibler’s Bits
Flask or Elixirs
Aspect of the Dragonhawk
Start fight-
/petattack
/cast Hunter’s Mark
10-20 seconds into the fight to allow for aggro:
Pop Beastial Wrath + Kill Command + Trinket
#showtooltip
/cast Bestial Wrath
/cast Kill Command
/use 13
/use 14
When Heroism/Bloodlust is used (will need to be clicked more than once for Rapid Fire to go off, as BW causes the global cooldown):
#showtooltip Bestial Wrath
/cast Bestial Wrath
/cast Call of the Wild
/cast Kill Command
/use 13
/cast Rapid Fire
So for example, if Heroism/Bloodlust is used at 95% my fight looks like (I have no On Use trinkets):
Boss hits 95%- Heroism + Bestial Wrath + Call of the Wild + Kill Command + Rapid Fire
1:17 later: Bestial Wrath + Kill Command
2:34 later: Bestial Wrath + Kill Command
3:51 later: Bestial Wrath + Kill Command + CotW
5:08 later: Bestial Wrath + Kill Command + Rapid Fire
Except for Sartharion+3 drakes, none of the fights I do ever last past 5 minutes, so holding off on Rapid Fire and Call of the Wild until Hero goes off is better in order to stack as many high-damage Auto Shots as possible.
Reputations:
1) Knights of the Ebon Blade– Head enchant, Two-Hander, Shoulders
2) Argent Crusade– Cloak, Hit Boots, Hit Chest
3) Sons of Hodir– Belt, Hit weapons, and shoulder enchants
4) Wyrmrest Accord– Hit weapons and Red Drake mount
5) Kirin Tor– Cheaper bullets and repairs, Boots
Gear:
Heavy abuse of WoWHead filter.
Questing-
Mail
Leather
Weapons
Ranged
Necks
Rings
Cloaks
Trinkets (beware of on use spell dmage ones, filter doesn’t work well for trinkets)
Normals-
Mail
Leather
Weapons
Ranged
Necks
Rings
Cloaks
Trinkets
Heroics-
Mail
Leather
Weapons
Ranged
Necks
Rings
Cloaks
Trinkets (beware of on use spell dmage ones, filter doesn’t work well for trinkets)
Emblems of Heroism-
http://www.wowhead.com/?items&filter=qu=4;ub=3;cr=118:117:20:123:45;crs=40752:4:4:4:4;crv=0:0:0:0:0#0-2+1
A Couple Recommended Pre-Naxx Pieces-
– Eaglebane Bracers – Crafted by Leatherworkers
– Giantmaim Legguards – Crafted by Leatherworkers
– Boots of the Neverending Path from Argent Crusade
– Polished Regimental Hauberk from Argent Crusade
– Drake-Mounted Crossbow from Heroic Utgarde Keep
– Pendant of the Outcast Hero from Emblems of Heroism
– Mirror of Truth from Emblems of Heroism
– Any of the heroic hunter-suitable trinkets
X-posted to here.
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