You asked for it, so here it is: A Beast Master Hunter’s Guide to Proving Grounds on Endless: 6.1 Edition!

Before I begin, I want to note that a.) this probably isn’t going to get you to round 9283643 or whatever, but it should get you to round 30, and b.) not all of what I say applies to raids/instances (although much of it does.)

SPEC:

I ran with this spec.  Some of these talents are more important than others.  A brief discussion on them:

Tier One: Narrow Escape is actually probably the least helpful talent here but I was too lazy to respec from it and frankly it made little difference in the end.

Tier Two: I like Intimidation as a backup Counter Shot; Wyvern Sting probably works well in that regard also.

Tier Three: Doesn’t matter as you won’t be taking damage.

Tier Four: Dire Beast helps provide necessary burst and is currently the highest DPS choice for Beast Masters out of this tier.

Tier Five: I opted for Crows here over Stampede because it’s on much shorter cooldown and things die quick enough that you can essentially use it non-stop.  With all your other bursty tools at your disposal you should not need Stampede for this.  I can see Blink Strikes as being a potential option  but this guide was written with Crows in mind.

Tier Six: Barrage is the best for burst, AoE and overall DPS.

Tier Seven: Adaptation is far and away the best DPS choice in this tier.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

Repair, buff up (the grummle provides buff food or you can use your own), use a flask if you want.  Do note that certain buffs (augmentation runes, for example) don’t work here.

Make sure your pet is spec’d for Ferocity and set to Assist.

Turn on Aspect of the Cheetah; nothing should be hitting you throughout this entire encounter.

Turn on Trap Launcher, if it isn’t on.

GENERAL TACTICS:

Get in the habit of moving around a lot (in fact in many rounds you will essentially always be running) and of tossing an explosive trap in the center of the room between rounds for some free bonus damage.

The first ten rounds will repeat endlessly, albeit with slightly higher enemy health each time.  So round one is the same as round 11, 21, 31 etc.

SECRET WEAPON:

Mecha-Blast Rocket.  It drops from Blingtron gift boxes and does serious damage in a pinch.  Shhhh!  (I did do the achievement without using any of these, so don’t think they’re required.  But hey, I can’t say they aren’t without their uses.)

ROUND SPECIFIC TACTICS:

Round One:

You will have a group of small enemies in the center and three larger ones around them.  None of them do anything special and you should be able to take all of these guys down in about 30 seconds between Crows, Bestial Wrath and Dire Beast on the big guys and a Barrage and a couple of multishots on the little guys.

Round Two:

Before this round I run towards the back of the room (opposite of the entrance) because that is where the healer will spawn.  Take him out first, interrupting him with a Counter Shot as soon as you see him begin to cast his heal.

An Amber-weaver is going to launch globules around; these stun you for a long time if they hit you but if they hit another NPC then they cause that NPC to take double damage.  For this reason I tend to take them out last because the globules can be useful.  Keep moving in order to avoid those globules and take out the big guys.  Remember to stay behind them when they put up their shield.

A banshee will show up halfway through this round and if you don’t kill her within ten seconds the entire thing ends, so I save a burst for her (typically Barrage).

Round Three:

I open this round with a Barrage on all the little guys in the center.  Then I focus on the Banana-tossers one at a time with Crows and Dire Beast (not BW yet, for reasons that I will detail in a bit.)  Remember to keep moving because if a banana hits you it will kill your hit rate for several seconds.

Once the banana-tossers have been dealt with pop a Bestial Wrath for the cheaper focus costs and then proceed to spam multishots.  Between all your multishots and the resulting Beast Cleaves all the little guys should drop like flies.

Round Four:

A Berserking buff will spawn here but frankly I never need it on this round so if you don’t need it either then feel free to save it for later, more difficult rounds.  This is a fairly straightforward if DPS intensive wave.  Keep Crows up on whatever you are attacking at all times and don’t stop moving and trying to maneuver the amber globules into the big guys.  A banshee does spawn halfway through so keep a burst saved up for that (again, my preferred burst on a banshee is Barrage.)

Round Five:

You will have a VERY big guy in the center, plus a healer and a banana-tosser.  Ignore the big guy for now – he has a shield up anyway – and destroy the healer (remember to interrupt!) and the banana-tosser.  Begin work on the big guy, but save your cooldowns for now.  At some point you will get a banshee, which you can Barrage away, and soon after it’s dead the big guy’s shield should fall.  Unleash all your cooldowns on him and he’ll go down really quick.

Round Six:

As soon as this round begins toss a freezing trap on one of the healers – it doesn’t matter which one – and kill the other one.  Whether you focus on the other healer or the little guys in the middle next is up to you; the little guys in the middle go down fast with AoE (barrage + multishot/beast cleave) and the healers go down quick with Crows, Dire Beast and sustained DPS.

You do get another berserking buff here – again, I save it.

Round Seven:

Personally I find this to be the most difficult of any of the rounds.  There is a lot of DPS required to get through it all in a minute.  If you’re having trouble with it, don’t be afraid to use one of the berserking buffs that you’ve saved up.  There is no real secret to this round other than kill everything as fast as you can, keep Crows up nonstop, use Barrage when you can (there are no banshees in this round) and try to use the Amber Globules to your advantage.  Remember to keep moving or the bananas will get you.

Round Eight:

This round is deceptive – it looks simple to begin with, but there are three banshees that will show up later on to mess you up.  Open by disposing of the healer right away and then beginning work on the other guys.  This is usually when the banshees start showing up so save your cooldowns for them.  These ones last fifteen seconds rather than ten, but they also have more health, so stay on your toes.

Round Nine:

This is another DPS intensive round and there is a banshee that pops up halfway through so have Barrage ready to go.  Save the Amber-Weaver for last so you can use the Amber Globules on the big guys, and watch out for the banana-tosser.

Round Ten:

Patchwerk but with a twist: you need to save all of your cooldowns for the end.  Don’t worry about healers, bananas or banshees, this one is just you and the big guy.  Maintain a basic rotation (Cobra Shots, Kill Commands and Arcane Shots, plus your first Dire Beast) for the first ~38 seconds of the fight and then when you see that he only has a couple of seconds left on his shield pop EVERYTHING.  Trinkets, Bestial Wrath, Barrage, Crows, Dire Beast et al.  BM is a bursty enough spec that you should be able to get him down in time without using a Berserker buff but I like having one up at this point anyway… just in case.

After you beat this guy you will get a bonus ten seconds before the next wave of ten rounds begins, so give yourself a breather, and if Round Ten was actually Round Thirty – congratulations on your shiny new title!

So yeah.  That’s how I did it, and that’s how you can do it too! Remember – it’s probably going to take practice and determination.  But I believe in you!  If I did it, then you can do it too.  Best of luck!