Beast Mastery Hunter DPS Guide - Midnight (12.0.1)

Welcome to The War Within Beast Mastery Hunter Guide! In this guide, we’ll dive into the class mechanics and overall changes. We aim to provide all the essential and relevant information to answer any questions you might have.

Beast Mastery Hunter Overview

Beast Mastery Hunter is a highly mobile ranged DPS spec. It is the only Ranged spec in the game that is able to fully execute its rotation while moving. This makes it incredibly useful for dealing with mechanics in raids and dungeons, as it can do these things with no damage penalty. It is also relatively easy to pick up and play. If you enjoy a simple, but effective ranged playstyle that is virtually unrestricted on movement, you will probably find Beast Mastery fun!

Beast Mastery Hunter Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• Straightforward to play.
• Strong DPS in all scenarios.
• Can do its full rotation on the move.

Weaknesses

• Pet AI can sometimes be wonky and cause issues.

Beast Mastery Hunter Basic Gameplay

Beast Mastery Hunter is a spec about buff, cooldown, and pet management all at the same time. The fundamental rotation is simple, focused on spending Focus exclusively, since you have no active Focus generators.

Most of your time will be spent casting Cobra Shot and Kill Command, with Barbed Shot being used to maintain your pet's Frenzy buff, another big part of the spec. You will also regularly be using your main mini-cooldown, Bestial Wrath.

Beast Mastery Hunter Changes in Patch 11.2

Base Beast Mastery Hunter Changes

• The talent tree has been significantly reshuffled, with several talents moved, removed, or added.
• Mastery now increases your personal damage as well as your pet's, though at a smaller rate.
• Dire Beast is now passive, and Dire Beasts spawn from bleed ticks like Barbed Shot and Bloodshed.
• The new talent Wildspeaker enhances Dire Beasts' power, allowing them to use Kill Command and scaling with Bestial Wrath.
• Explosive Shot is now less relevant. A new choice node, Harmonize, provides consistent pet damage and is generally superior.

Dark Ranger Changes

• The new node Umbral Reach causes Black Arrow to automatically spread its DoT and increase its damage. With 3 or more targets, it also triggers Beast Cleave, reducing the need for Multi-Shot on AoE.
• Beast Cleave no longer needs to be active beforehand for Black Arrow cleaving.

Reshii Wraps Addition

Patch 11.2 introduces the Reshii Wraps Artifact Cloak from the K'aresh campaign, featuring a high-damage proc and customizable secondary stats. Updated Season 3 BiS lists are available on the Gear page.

Tier Set Bonuses

Tier set bonuses now vary by Hero Talent. The 2-piece and 4-piece bonuses differ between Dark Ranger and Pack Leader, impacting build choices and rotations.

Patch 11.2 brings a comprehensive update to the Beast Mastery Hunter guide to reflect these changes and the new season.

Beast Mastery Hunter Leveling Guide for The War Within

Beast Mastery Hunter Leveling Playstyle

Beast Mastery Hunter, thanks to its pet acting as a tank, is an excellent questing leveler. It can handle large pulls regularly like a tank using Misdirection and No Hard Feelings, while dealing much more damage than a tank.

Grab a Ferocity pet and Misdirection, then activate it before tagging as many mobs as possible, usually with Cobra Shot, Barbed Shot, and later on, Barrage. Watch the mobs flock to your pet. Activate Beast Cleave with Multi-Shot and start cleaving. The more damage your pet does—meaning the more targets you hit—the more your pet will heal itself!

Best Leveling Pet for Beast Mastery Hunter

All pets deal the same damage, but they vary in utility and special abilities. The best leveling pet is a Clefthoof. They take less physical damage and receive more healing than any other pet. Keep their spec set to Ferocity to maximize this extra healing.

Any Clefthoof will work, and there are many available as soon as you reach Level 10. Check out the link, find your favorite, and start hunting!

Beast Mastery Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents

© Wowhead

Copy the Beast Mastery Hunter talents, paste them into the game.

Single-Target - Pack Leader

Mythic+/Delves - Pack Leader

Raid AoE - Pack Leader

Best PvP Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter

1. Dire Beast: Hawk causes a hawk to circle a target area, damaging all targets within. This greatly supplements your AoE damage when doing big pulls in the open world.
2. Dire Beast: Basilisk is a powerful choice for bursty single-target damage. It is useful for world PvP if you can keep your opponent slowed enough for the Basilisk, and it is potent for rare mobs and quest mobs with high health.
3. Chimaeral Sting offers a good amount of opening damage for single targets and is very useful against most enemy players.

You can consider the other options based on personal preference.

Best Hero Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter in The War Within

Overall Hero Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter

Pack Leader

Pack Leader has far superior damage in all scenarios to Dark Ranger and is essentially a lock-in pick.

Dark Ranger

Dark Ranger is significantly behind in all kinds of DPS. Its only strength is the Smoke Screen defensive node, which is far stronger than anything Pack Leader offers defensively.

Mythic+ Hero Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter

Pack Leader

Pack Leader has far superior damage in all scenarios to Dark Ranger and is essentially a lock-in pick.

Dark Ranger

Dark Ranger lags behind in all types of DPS. Its only advantage is the Smoke Screen defensive node, which is considerably stronger than any defensive option offered by Pack Leader.

Beast Mastery Hunter DPS Stat Priority

1. Haste, until ～40%
2. Mastery/Critical Strike
3. Additional Haste
4. Versatility

Diminishing Returns on Stats

There are points at which certain stats will start offering less benefit. These are the points of diminishing return. After this point, stats will give progressively less benefit. This does not necessarily mean that a Stat will no longer be good past its point of diminishing returns, but if you find yourself crossing them, you should pay special attention to your sims and find out if you should look for different stats.

• 21000 Crit, or 44%
• 19800 Haste, or 30%
• 23400 Versatility, or 30%
• 21000 Mastery Rating

Stat Explanations

Agility is your primary stat. It provides Attack Power, which determines the damage of your abilities across the board.

Mastery, through Mastery: Master of Beasts, increases the damage done by all the pets and creatures you summon. This includes your main pet, Dire Beasts, and more.

Haste increases attack speed and Focus regeneration, reduces your Global Cooldown from 1.5 seconds to a minimum of 0.750 seconds, and lowers the cooldown on Kill Command and Barbed Shot.

Critical Strike increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and abilities, causing them to deal double damage. For Beast Mastery Hunter, it also increases the frequency of Wild Call procs, giving auto-shot critical strikes a 20% chance to reset the cooldown of Barbed Shot.

Versatility increases all damage and healing done while also reducing all damage taken.

Beast Mastery Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities

Single-Target Rotation for Beast Mastery Hunter

1. Use damage-dealing Trinkets on cooldown, as they do not scale with our kit. Sync stat-granting Trinkets with 1-2+ minute cooldowns to Call of the Wild or Bloodshed. Shorter-cooldown Trinkets should be synced with Bestial Wrath. When not using Call of the Wild, use on-use Trinkets on cooldown or wait for a Bear proc from Howl of the Pack Leader.
2. Activate Bestial Wrath whenever possible.
3. Use Barbed Shot over Kill Command under either of the following conditions:
   • To refresh the Frenzy buff if it is about to fall off.
   • If Barbed Shot is at, or close to, 2 charges.
   • If Barbed Shot is closer to reaching 2 charges than Kill Command is.
   • If Call of the Wild is off cooldown, use all Barbed Shot before activating it.
   • If your next Kill Command has a Howl of the Pack Leader proc and Barbed Shot is within 8 seconds of reaching 2 charges.
4. Use Kill Command whenever possible.
5. Use Call of the Wild whenever possible. Use all of your Barbed Shot before activating it.
6. Use Cobra Shot when you have nothing else to do.

Single-Target Opener for Beast Mastery Hunter in The War Within

1. Ensure Hunter's Mark is active on the target from you or another Hunter in the group.
2. Use Bestial Wrath.
3. Use Barbed Shot — Sends your pet in and starts Frenzy.
4. Use Kill Command.
5. Use Barbed Shot again — Another Frenzy stack and some cooldown reduction for Bestial Wrath.
6. Use all remaining Barbed Shot and one Kill Command before entering cooldowns. The goal is to enter cooldowns with just one Kill Command charge.
7. Use Call of the Wild alongside your Potion and stat-granting on-use Trinkets.
8. Use Kill Command.
9. Proceed with your normal rotation according to the priority list below.

AoE Rotation for Beast Mastery Hunter

1. Use Bestial Wrath whenever possible.
2. Use Barbed Shot over Kill Command under either of the following conditions:
   • To refresh the Frenzy buff if it is about to fall off.
   • If Barbed Shot is at, or close to, 2 charges.
   • If Barbed Shot is closer to reaching 2 charges than Kill Command is.
   • If your next Kill Command has a Howl of the Pack Leader proc, and Barbed Shot is within 8 seconds of reaching 2 charges.
3. Use Multi-Shot to apply and maintain the Beast Cleave buff on your pet. Refresh it as late as possible without wasting other globals. Occasionally, refresh early if an urgent global is coming, like a Frenzy refresh.
4. Use Dire Beast whenever possible.
5. Cast Kill Command whenever possible.
6. Cast Cobra Shot to prevent Focus capping, or if you have 4+ Hogstrider stacks that cause it to hit more targets.

AoE Opener for Beast Mastery Hunter

1. Ensure Hunter's Mark is active on the highest HP target from you or another Hunter in the group.
2. Use Barbed Shot.
3. Use Barbed Shot on a different target.
4. Use Multi-Shot to activate Beast Cleave.
5. Use Bestial Wrath.
6. Use Dire Beast.
7. Use Kill Command.
8. Use Multi-Shot to refresh Beast Cleave.
9. Use Barbed Shot, ideally on a third target.
10. Proceed with your normal rotation according to the priority list below.

Beast Mastery Hunter DPS Gems and Consumables

We highly recommend using Raidbots to sim your character's ideal gems and enchants, as they might differ from our general recommendations.

You should use Culminating Blasphemite in one socket. Then, ensure you have one gem of each type in other sockets to max out the Crit effect, ideally Quick Ruby, Quick Onyx, Quick Sapphire, Deadly Emerald. Fill in remaining sockets with Deadly Emerald.

Best Flask for Beast Mastery Hunter in The War Within

You should be drinking the Flask of Alchemical Chaos at all times.

Best Potion for Beast Mastery Hunter in The War Within

Your stat potion should be Tempered Potion. Use these when you will do the most damage with your abilities, likely during your cooldowns and/or Bloodlust/Heroism. You can also obtain Fleeting Tempered Potion from Cauldrons that can be spawned by Alchemists.

You should keep a stock of Invigorating Healing Potions to use when at low health, and if you have a Warlock in the group, grab their Healthstones and use them as well. Do not macro these together, they are best used separately! You can also obtain Fleeting Invigorating Healing Potion from Cauldrons that can be spawned by Alchemists.

Best Food for Beast Mastery Hunter in The War Within

Since our secondary stats are stronger per-point than our primary stat, you should be eating secondary stat food at all times, either Beledar's Bounty, Outsider's Provisions, Jester's Board, Empress' Farewell personal food, or the The Sushi Special Feast. They are all identical.

It may also be worth eating "split" Stat Foods, such as Deepfin Patty, because your highest secondary stat may not always be your best one currently, point-for-point. This should be simmed.

In addition, if you can afford it, you should use Crystallized Augment Runes to increase your primary stat. Augment Runes are expensive, and disappear on death, so use them wisely!

Best Enchants for Beast Mastery Hunter

Slot	Enchantment
Necklace	Magnificent Jeweler's Setting (adds up to 2 sockets to a Ring or Neck)
Weapon	Enchant Weapon - Stormrider's Fury
Chest	Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance
Bracers	Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance
Legs	Stormbound Armor Kit
Boots	Enchant Boots - Scout's March
Rings	Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste
Cloak	Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace

Beast Mastery Hunter DPS Gear and Best in Slot

This section will cover everything you need to know about equipping your character correctly.

BiS Gear for Beast Mastery Hunter

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Midnight Herald's Cowl (TIER SET)	Forgeweaver Araz/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Neck	Duskblaze's Desperation	The Soul Hunters in Manaforge Omega
Shoulder	Midnight Herald's Shadowguards (TIER SET)	The Soul Hunters/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Cloak	Reshii Wraps	Season 3 Questline
Chest	Midnight Herald's Hauberk (TIER SET)	Fractillus/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Bracers	Glyph-Etched Vambraces with Dawnthread Lining	Crafted by Leatherworking
Gloves	Glyph-Etched Gauntlets with Dawnthread Lining	Crafted by Leatherworking
Belt	Durable Information Securing Container with Static Charge	Patch 11.1.7 Questline
Legs	Midnight Herald's Petticoat (TIER SET)	Loom’ithar/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Boots	Interloper's Chain Boots	The Soul Hunters in Manaforge Omega
Ring #1	Band of the Shattered Soul	Dimensius The All Devouring in Manaforge Omega
Ring #2	Whispers of K'aresh	Eco-Dome Al'dani (710), or in Great Vault
Trinket #1	Astral Antenna	Loom’ithar in Manaforge Omega
Trinket #2	Ara-Kara Sacbrood	Ara-Kara, City of Echoes (710), or in Great Vault
Weapon	Lacerated Current Caster	Fractillus in Manaforge Omega

Best Trinkets for Beast Mastery Hunter in The War Within Season 3

This Trinket Tier List is based on an average of Single-Target Raid and Mythic+ AoE Performance, weighted 65/35 (Mythic+ has single-target too!).

Note that the Trinkets are compared at their highest possible Item Level, which is only 710 for Delve Trinkets. Not only that, but 723 Mythic+ Trinkets are only obtainable via the Great Vault. At equal iLvls, the picture may be very different and that is why you should sim yourself.

A "Tier" as defined by this list is around 0.5%-1% DPS.

S-Tier

• Astral Antenna
• Ara-Kara Sacbrood
• Improvised Seaforium Pacemaker

A-Tier

• Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
• So'leah's Secret Technique (Generally Haste)

B-Tier

• Cursed Stone Idol
• Lily of the Eternal Weave
• Signet of the Priory
• Algari Alchemist Stone

C-Tier

• Sigil of the Cosmic Hunt
• Void-Touched Fragment
• Harvester's Edict
• Araz's Ritual Forge
• Incorporeal Essence-Gorger
• Screams of a Forgotten Sky
• Soulbreaker's Sigil

D-Tier

• Miniscule Mailemental in an Envelope
• Essence-Hunter's Eyeglass

The War Within Season 3 Tier Set for Beast Mastery Hunter

The Tier Set is comprised of 5 items, all carrying the Midnight Herald's moniker.

In Season 3, there are two Set Bonuses per spec, one for each Hero Talent.

Pack Leader

Hunter Pack Leader 11.2 Class Set 2pc — Increases pet damage by 5% and Beast damage by 15%. Whenever you summon a Beast, you gain 6% Haste/Crit/ Mastery for 8 seconds, depending on the Beast summoned. Boar gives Haste, Bear gives Mastery, and Wyvern gives Crit.

Hunter Pack Leader 11.2 Class Set 4pc — Summoning a Beast during Lead From the Front (aka Bestial Wrath) causes a Stampede, sending out a line from your character with beasts that do heavy damage over 7 seconds.

Dark Ranger

Hunter Dark Ranger 11.2 Class Set 2pc: Black Arrow damage increased by 10%, Bleak Powder damage increased by 20%, and the cooldown of Trueshot is reduced by 30 seconds.

Hunter Dark Ranger 11.2 Class Set 4pc: Withering Fire damage increased by 50%, and whenever you consume Deathblow, you have a 50% chance to cause all Withering Fire Black Arrow barrages in your next Trueshot to fire 1 additional Black Arrow.

Addons for Beast Mastery Hunter

Generic Addons for Hunters

• ElvUI
• Weak Auras
• Boss Mods
  • Deadly Boss Mods
  • BigWigs
• Details!
• GTFO

Specific Addons for Beast Mastery Hunters

• Currently, no additional addons are needed to play a Beast Mastery Hunter to its full potential.

WeakAuras for Beast Mastery Hunter

WeakAuras is an essential tool for Beast Mastery Hunter and DPS players, offering unparalleled customization to enhance your gameplay. Rather than focusing on specific examples, we recommend exploring Wago.io, where you’ll find an extensive library of WeakAuras to suit your needs.

If you are unfamiliar with WeakAuras, it is an incredibly powerful and widely-used AddOn that allows you to create custom displays for nearly everything in the game. This includes tracking buffs, debuffs, cooldowns, Focus, resources, and much more.

To import a WeakAura, visit Wago.io and select one that fits your preferences. Click the "Copy WeakAura Import String" button to copy it to your clipboard. Next, log into the game and type /wa in the chat box to open the WeakAuras interface. Navigate to the "Import" section, press Ctrl+V to paste the copied string, and click "Import". You’re ready to go!

Mastering WeakAuras and customizing it to your playstyle is highly recommended for any serious raider. With countless options available on Wago.io, you can tailor your interface to optimize your performance and focus on what truly matters in combat.

Beast Mastery Hunter Frequently Asked Questions

What Race is Best for Beast Mastery Hunter?

The difference between the best and worst races for Beast Mastery Hunters is minimal, typically around 1-2%. Common top choices include Dwarf and Tauren. For precise optimization, use a tool like Raidbots to simulate your character.

Is there a Haste cap for Beast Mastery Hunters?

No, Beast Mastery Hunters do not have specific Haste breakpoints. While Haste starts to provide diminishing returns at 30% from rating, it can still remain one of your best stats depending on your gear and build.

What is the Best Pet for Beast Mastery Hunter?

All pets deal the same damage, but their utility varies:

• Spirit Beasts are ideal if you don't need a pet with a lust effect, thanks to their Spirit Mend ability.
• Ferocity pets are the go-to choice when a lust effect is required.

What is Multidotting?

Multidotting refers to applying a damage-over-time (DoT) ability, like Barbed Shot, to multiple targets. To maximize your damage, always prioritize casting Barbed Shot on targets with no existing DoT or the shortest remaining duration.

With talents such as Master Handler, this playstyle can provide a significant DPS boost, sometimes exceeding 10%.