3.1 Beast Mastery PvE Hunter Guide

2009_06-02HunterGuide
This post is backdated to the date of the original post. It was imported to this blog on May 20, 2014.

***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 not top. Patch 3.1 did not fix us and hunters overall have fallen on the charts versus other DPS. To maximize damage as a hunter Marks and Survival are vying for top specs. Which is best for you depends on your gear level and raid make-up.***

This guide includes information that is mostly centered around level 80 Beast Mastery raiding, however the Links, Addons, Enchants, Raid Supplies, Pet, Macros and Beginning Wrath Gear & Reps can apply for all specs for the most part and there are a few leveling (which BM is still arguably the best spec for) sections in Talents and Pets. I am a BM hunter and it is what I know best.

Survival:
The Survival Hunter in WotLK from Elitist Jerks
3.1 Survival Hunter PvE Raiding Guide by Xumio

Marks:
Marksman Questions from Elitist Jerks

Old BM guides:
Pre-3.1 BM Wrath Guide
BC BM Guide

If I missed something please feel free to comment and I’ll add it.


Table of Contents:
Links
Add-ons and Spreadsheets
Stats
Gems
Enchants
Raid Supplies
Glyphs
Talents (Raiding and Leveling)
Pet
Shot Rotation
Other Macros
A typical raid boss
Beginning Wrath Gear & Reps
Notes about recent changes



Links:
WoW_Ladies Hunter Tag
The Hunting Lodge
Elitist Jerks
EJ: Raiding as Beast Mastery in 3.1
TKASomething
TKASomething – How to find out what you’re doing wrong
Aspect of the Hare (Hunter category)
Petopia



Add-ons and Spreadsheets:
Shandara’s spreadsheetHow 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.
ViperNotify – Displays a notification when the hunter is using Aspect of the Viper at full mana. Also plays the egg timer “ding!” sound.

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.



Stats:
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 has been buffed a lot and is a pretty good stat to take now, especially at higher amounts.
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



Gems

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



Enchants:
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



Raid Supplies:

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

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



Glyphs:

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 was in the BM rotation in the first place.
or
Glyph of Kill Shot– Reduces the cooldown of Kill Shot by 6 sec.
– The difference on the spreadsheet is extremely minimal (usually a couple DPS in favor of Steady Shot), however, remember that the spreadsheet is best-case-senario, and with all the movement fights in Ulduar you could possibly be getting more use out of KS than Steady.

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 as it’s always shown higher DPS numbers in the spreadsheet for me.

Minor Glyphs
1) Glyph of Mend Pet– Your Mend Pet spell increases your pet’s happiness slightly.
– With this and Bloodthirsty your pet will be able to stay happy extremely easily.

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).



Talents:

Raiding Spec-
1) 54/12/5 (from this thread) – Includes one point in Invigoration for regen
2) 53/12/6 – Straight maximizing DPS

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
1/1 Beast Mastery

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.



Pet:
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#0Vd00fc00hoRb
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
2/2 Shark Attack
2/2 Wild Hunt

Which pet type?
Ferocity: Devilsaurs > Wolves/Raptors > Spirit Beasts > Cats
Which is highest for you can also depend on what buffs/debuffs you have or don’t have in your raids, which is most obvious in 10-mans.

For soloing:
http://www.wowhead.com/?petcalc#0uzG0rMzb0or
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: Free-for-all, pick a skin/type you like and go for it. ^_^

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) Spiced Mammoth Treats

Keeping your pet alive:
This post by has some hints on Naxxarmas, Sartharion, and Malygos and my comment in reply has some additional notes.

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:



Shot Rotation:
Or rather, “Shot Priority” now as it’s not a proper order or timing, nor can it be macroed into one button anymore.
has a very good explanation here which includes an awesome chart to help you decide.

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.



Other Macros:
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

Melee attack spam– Queues Raptor Strike to hit on the next attack, uses Wing Clip the first time, then Mongoose Bite, then back to Wing Clip. Holding Alt will make it cast Scare Beast.
#showtooltip
/cast [modifier:alt] Scare Beast
/cast !Raptor Strike
/castsequence Wing Clip, Mongoose Bite



A typical raid boss:

AP food
Pet gets Spiced Mammoth Treats
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

Holding off on Rapid Fire and Call of the Wild until Heroism/Bloodlust goes off can be better in order to stack as many high-damage Auto Shots as possible, however it depends on your raid’s use of the skill per-fight. Sometimes fights will last over 5 minutes so you’ll get RF back up, and often (in Ulduar) they almost always last over the 3.5 that it takes for CotW so whether or not to hold off on them becomes your discretion.



Beginning Wrath Gear & Reputations:

Reputations:
1) Knights of the Ebon BladeHead enchant, Two-Hander, Shoulders
2) Argent CrusadeCloak, Hit Boots, Hit Chest
3) Sons of HodirBelt, Hit weapons, and shoulder enchants
4) Wyrmrest AccordHit weapons and Red Drake mount
5) Kirin Tor– Cheaper bullets and repairs, Boots

Gear:
Heavy abuse of WoWHead filter.

Crafted-
Armor
Weapons
Ranged

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 of 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
Nesingwary 4000 – Crafted by Engineers (alternative to the Xbow from UK)
Pendant of the Outcast Hero from Emblems of Heroism
Mirror of Truth from Emblems of Heroism
– Any of the heroic hunter-suitable trinkets



Notes about recent changes:
– Focused Aim works for pets now.
– Kibler’s Bits were nerfed to be 20 str, so Spiced Mammoth Treats (requiring Northern Spices) are the best ones (30 str).
– Beast Mastery is now a worthwhile talent to take for the new pet talents.
– Kill Shot is on the Global Cooldown so if you had it macroed to your other shots, take it off.
– Armor Penetration has been buffed – It is a much better stat to take on gear now, especially in high amounts, although gemming it is still pretty iffy.
– Glyph of Mend Pet is no longer bugged.
– Glyph of Kill Shot is a decent alternative to Glyph of Steady Shot.
– All Tenacity Pets can have Thunderstomp now, so it’s largely personal preference which to choose.
– Wolves were buffed and are now the highest DPS for all specs other than Devilsaurs (exotic, BM-only).

X-posted to here.

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