Okay I’ve played around with Beast Mastery a bit in heroics and stuff and I have some tips for it. Note that this is not a comprehensive guide and I haven’t done any rooting around EJ or any real math or anything.
OVERVIEW:
Beast Mastery is now providing a very different playstyle than it has in the past. See, we used to be all about burst. Now, we’re all about ramping up. Your AoE damage is gonna suck now that we’ve lost Volley and MultiShot is expensive, focus-wise. Your DPS is probably gonna suck if your group is full of warlocks doing 10k on bosses (did I mention that I’m back to leveling my warlock? >.>) and thus the bosses die within ten seconds. Where your DPS is going to shine is on longer fights that allow you to use Focus Fire, get some of those tasty Kill Command crit procs (can’t think of the name right now), and take advantage of the new Glyph of Kill Shot which is ridiculous and awesome.
In addition we have a lot of fun procs and a lot of fun buttons to press and while I still dislike the mechanic of Focus (until I get used to it anyway) I’m liking all the new stuff-to-do. I’ve spent some quality time with all three specs and I can honestly say that I find the new Beast Mastery to be the most fun– and I’d like to think that I’m not being biased when I say that, seeing that I really fell in love with Survival a couple months back.
ROTATION:
Basically on a single-boss fight you are spamming Arcane and using Kill Command when it’s up. Use Bestial Wrath when it’s up. View Steady Shot as a “Mini-Viper” of sorts (that made the transition to using Focus easier for me). I.E., when your gas tank is starting to run dry, pop a couple of Steadies to get it back up to speed. Use Focus Fire when you see the icon light up. I had a comment ask if they had to be watching their pet’s Frenzy stacks now– no, you don’t, as far as I’m aware, because Blizzard is nice and made it so you get a big shiny glowy effect on your Focus Fire button when you can use it. (Note: you also get the big shiny glowy effect when your Kill Command “Killing Streak” thing procs.)
Just like I view Steady Shot as a new Mini-Viper, I also view Fervor as a Mini-Readiness of sorts, because it restores Focus to you and gives you a few extra seconds of Fun Stuff To Do. That is, I’ll pop it a few moments into a Boss Fight, as follows:
TYPICAL BEAST MASTER BOSS FIGHT:
The Beast Within ->
Rapid Fire/Any Trinkets ->
Serpent Sting ->
Spam Arcane and use Kill Command when it’s up ->
Once Beast Within fades, pop Fervor… this will give you a little more juice now that you’re not getting the Focus cost reduction from TBW anymore. ->
Right around here Focus Fire is gonna light up, so use that. ->
Go back to Arcane/Kill Command and Steady as necessary. Serpent Sting again if you’ve got a ways to go on the boss. ->
Optional: Check Recount and feel special.
SPEC:
Pretty straightforward; scoop up the talents that give you DPS increases. Really the only choice you’ll be making is Spirit Bond vs. Improved Mend Pet. As usual I’m addicted to the latter but I imagine most people will pick the former, or perhaps put one point in each.
I had five non-Beast Master points left over, which I dumped into Go for the Throat and Efficiency.
GLYPHS:
Right now for Prime Glyphs I’m using Kill Shot, Steady Shot, and Arcane Shot. They’re sexy.
OVERALL SPEC/GLYPH SETUP:
I’m using this. Use at your own risk because I sort of just made it up as I went along.
PETS:
Corehounds are the current New Hotness because they get Bloodlust/Heroism. A lot of pets get a lot of great stuff though, check out this chart for details (I didn’t make it):
…of course, really the chart should have a line that says something to the effect of “Are you Pike -> Yes -> Use Whichever Pet is Prettiest” because you guys have to remember that I’m that person who refused to use a wolf throughout the entire duration of WotLK because I thought dinosaurs were much more awesome, so…
…yeah. *coughs*
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR:
I’m not sure if it’s bugged or what but Kill Command sure likes to tell me I’m “out of range” and the like when I try to use it. DISREGARD THAT, just wait to use Kill Command until your pet is actually attacking something.
Also my pets seem to be dying a lot.
Dunno, I’ll get back to you on those.
Okay, I think that’s about it. Questions/comments/rants/raves/rambles? Lemme know! *points to commenting link*
I don’t know if the bug is still present in Live, but on Beta, there was an issue with the “Hey, use this now!” feature on Focus Fire – it wasn’t showing you that until the pet used Bite/Claw/Smack a sixth time, granting them what would’ve been stack 6 of Frenzy but was wasted – it was less a “hey, use this now!” and a “hey, you should’ve used this 3 seconds ago!”.
Kill Command is a pet ability, so if your pet is within 5 yards of its target and you get that message then probably a bug.
Chances are though your pet hasn’t gotten on it’s target yet and thus can’t attack.
@ Rilgon – Hrmm, interesting. I *think* that’s fixed because I’ve tried to use the ability before it lit up a few times and it didn’t let me. But I’ll look into it.
@ Darkbrew – That is very possible. Now I feel silly.
The Kill Command “out of range” happens when your pet is outside melee range. It’d be nice if it indicated that on the action bar, but it’d be tricky to code since I don’t think there’s any other ability that uses some range other than your own.
I have also never had a wolf pet, since I couldn’t bring myself to abandon any of the ones in my then-full stable. That reminds me, now that I have a huge stable it’s time for a trip to Ramparts.
@ Minos – Same here on the stable thing. I actually did end up taming a wolf on my Horde hunter, because she had a slot available, but I usually wound up using my wasp instead, because I simply liked it more :3
@Darkbrew There is also an issue with any creature with a very large hitbox (sup Marrowgar) where Kill Command, due to being calculated from the center of the creature, is “not in range” even though the pet is very much in melee range and can use white swings/Bite/$FAMILY_ABILITY.
What about Serpent Sting? You didn’t mention it in your rotation. Is it useless now?
@ Ionutz – Derp, I just forgot it. *goes to edit that in*
Loved the workflow chart! It helps a lot when choosing the right pet… I guess I’ll print it and pin to the wall beside the computer.
I haven’t (quite) had a pet die on me yet, but they seem to run through health a bit more than they used to, but since Mend seems to be a freebie there’s no problem with popping it as needed.
BTW, where’s the flowchart for PvE soloing? 😉
Ok..stupid question..and ive been a hunter for almost 4 years..but I was looking at the flow chart for pets..are spirit beasts now considered “Normal pets?” or am i getting my hopes up…
@ Taradin – I’m glad you like it, unfortunately I cannot take credit for it!
@ Ashazzar – I’m still fond of my turtle myself! <3
@ Ishea - As far as I'm aware spirit beasts are still exotics, however, they are not as good for Beast Mastery as several of the other exotics (or normal pets) so they are further down on the chart.
And so did have my hopes up *Goes into a small room where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth.*
Assuming your raid has full buff coverage, there is literally no reason to not take a Spirit Beast if you like it.
Hell, bringing one is probably better than anything else if you don’t need a buff covered, as they have a targetable heal that can be used on yourself or other raiders to ease healer strain.
Ya..but the guilds on my server fall into the category of..”You will follow the cookie cutter specs laid down by the Class Gods..otherwise no phat lewtz for you..”
…And that invalidates what of what I said?
Anyways, Pike, at level 81, you need to drop Glyph of Steady for Glyph of Kill Command as a Prime.
Ehh..even if full buff coverage is there..the guilds here still make you bring a pet that puts out the best dps..should have clarified that. Sorry
I went up to Winterspring and tamed a Frostsaber Stalker just because they’re pretty. It isn’t just you Pike 🙂
@ Rilgon – Thanks for the glyph tip, I’ll keep it in mind :3
@ Ardprest – I’ve already got my new devilsaur, Roxton, to 80. I’m not sure what I want to tame next, though…
That’s a brilliant flowchart, I’m going to nick it for the guild website… props to whoever drew it up 🙂
You’re awesome. Thanks for the article.
Upon release of 4.0, I ‘unparked’ my lvl 61 hunter (now 66)… got the recommended glyphs, spec, etc… and all is now happy hunting. For me (with my prot pally, ret pally, … well, like all of you) this is a very smooth rotation and style of fighting. Very shiny.
the guilds here still make you bring a pet that puts out the best dps
And since all Ferocity pets bring equal DPS due to no Ferocity pet having a “this does damage” ability or a “this buffs the Hunter and stacks with raid buffs” ability, you can bring whatever the hell you want! Including your Spirit Beast! Hooray!
@Rilgon
I hadnt read that part of the patch. I will say this though, you just made my day. Means my Spirit Beast can get some love in. :D. Also..I didnt mean any disrespect to you in any way shape or form and if i did I apologize..Thats not what I was going for 🙂
Oh I know. Sorry I got a bit snippy – I just felt I was clear enough in my first statement (plus what Pike had said) to make it obvious, was all. 🙂
Pike, have you considered 2/2 Improved Serpent Sting instead of Efficiency? At least for level 80, since you are manually reapplying the Sting it will get the extra 30% damage each time.
Pets dying a lot… Uh. Silly question. Did you remember that the pets’ talents were reset, too?
Pike, may I assume you have yet to tame/play with a worm or rhino yet? Worms are a blast for soloing, with their Burrow Attack being quite impressive at making your pet the center of attention. Speaking of which, soloing seems to be quite a bit easier (with the exception of Thekal in ZG – I actually have to work really hard to get all three to go down within seconds of each other).
As for rhinos – well, they got un-nerfed. Yeah, rhino bowling is back! I’ll probably spend this weekend punting various things, and uploading whatever looks funniest onto Wowhead.
easymode soloing – I’ve macroed Burrow Attack (worm) with multi-shot. crazy AoE dps for farming/quick xp come cataclysm. pop ur godmode (BW/TBW) macro for endless focus and burn damn near any group down, also macro your steady shot with focus fire (SS first) and that way FF will auto-pop when you need to squeeze off a couple SS for focus regen. when cata drops the standard 4 pet stable should be worm (trash) turtle (elites) core (burn) and chimera, why chimera? AoE exotic ability plus VERY important cunning family skill, roar fo recovery. i have a ravager for surv spec and roar of recovery saves my ass often. mix that with fervor you’ve got focus regen like a mofo