One major benefit of having a class site like Huntsman’s Lodge is that I get so much great input from all of you. Your comments and discussion really prompt me to revisit a lot things, and in turn, influence change – making me a better player as a result.
After reading some of the comments that were posted in my last BM PvP build post, I ended up trying out a new build. While not radically different, I do think it’s a better build (for BGs, anyway) than the one I posted last week.
Old habits die hard…
I’ve always been one to take a point in Improved Mend Pet. Having the ability to cleanse DoTs and CC from my pet has always been of huge importance to me. However, after reading through some of the comments in response to my posted build, I decided to drop the point just to see if I missed it. If I didn’t, then that would free up a precious talent point that I could use for more DPS, for example.
Another talent I decided to give up was Survival Tactics. I really like this talent for the reduced Disengage cooldown, and to a lesser extent… the increased trap efficiency. Anyway, I elected to dump Survival Tactics to test if the shorter Disengage cooldown would really be missed and to see just how much more often my traps would fail as a result of losing this talent.
Were I a highly competitive arena hunter, I feel that Survival Tactics would be a staple talent. A failed Freezing Trap could make the difference between a victory or a loss, where as in battlegrounds, you can afford to have a small margin of error with traps.
Survival Tactics shaves 4 seconds off the cooldown of Disengage, plus it cancels out the inherent 4% “miss rate” hunters have with traps. Even with capped Spell Penetration, traps have a 4% chance to miss, i.e., a 1 in 25 chance to “not hit”, rather than be resisted.
At any rate… I decided to see if giving up that 4% bonus would actually be that noticeable. The result…not really. I’ve yet to be in a situation where a failed trap has been a game changer, nor have I really noticed my traps missing all that often.
As for the 4 second longer cooldown on Disengage…that hasn’t been a problem either.
Without the point in Improved Mend Pet and the other two points in Survival Tactics, I then had 3 extra talent points to spend elsewhere. So where to put them..?
Efficiency, of course.
Efficiency is a really nice PvP talent to grab for a BM PvP build because it lowers the focus cost of Arcane Shot. The other thing about Efficiency is that it gets much, much better with each point you place in it. 1 point won’t make a huge difference, as it’s only reducing Arcane Shot’s cost by 1 focus. However, with 3 points you’re lowering the focus cost of Arcane Shot to only 22 focus (11 focus while enraged). While 3 focus per shot may not seem like a lot, it adds up when you’re casting back-to-back, and can make a huge difference in your burst damage. Being able to get off one additional Arcane Shot during a burst rotation can really help to put pressure on an enemy.
Anyway… here’s the BM PvP build I’m now using in battlegrounds…
31/3/7 BM PvP Build w/ Efficiency
You may also notice that I changed two of my glyphs. I swapped out Deterrence for Master’s Call and I dropped my novelty Glyph of Lesser Proportion for Scare Beast. The latter change wasn’t a huge deal, as I very seldom use Scare Beast in BGs, but it’s nice to have the cast-pushback resist for those times I do use it.
As for the Master’s Call glyph… I’m thinking that I may like it more than Deterrence. Deterrence already has a pretty long cooldown, so reducing it to 1min, 50secs, down from 2 minutes isn’t a game-changer, in my opinion. I have yet to find myself in trouble because I’m having to wait 10 extra seconds for Deterrence to come back, where as having Master’s Call last twice as long has been a nice benefit.
However… I think both of those glyphs are quite beneficial. My suggestion would be to try them both – as I have, then make a determination based on what works best for you.
BM PvP Build Template
In addition to highlighting my new build, I also went ahead and created an easy to follow go-to build template – showing the basis for a good build, along with what options you have for customization.
We don’t have a ton of wiggle room these days, but here’s how I’d recommend spending your talent points, along with which glyphs I think are optimal choices for BM PvP. The talents highlighted in green are ones that you can play around with – the rest are mandatory, in my opinion.
Foundation for a Solid BM PvP Build
…and recommended glyphs
Personally, I haven’t felt the need to mess with Glyph of Raptor Strike, but I do think it’s a decent option for the added survivability it provides. My 45% damage reduction provided via resilience is usually enough to keep me up for awhile.
Well that’s about all I have left to say as far as BM PvP builds are concerned. I just wanted to update you all on my recently tweaked build, as well as offer you some additional advice on how to craft your own version of a Beastly-Ass Beast Mastery Hunter.
TENGO UNA DUDA, NO SE DE QUE HACERME, HE BUSCADO EN MUCHOS SITIOS, ME HAN DICHO QUE BM ES MUY UTIL EN BGS Y PVP, OTROS ME HAN DICHO Q MM ES UTIL EN BGS Y PVP, PERO DICEN QUE SV ES EL MEJOR, PERO NO SE DE QUE HACERME, PORFAVOR AYUDENME 😉
NO SE DE QUE HACERME SI BM O SV O MM, HE BUSCADO POR TODAS PARTES ALGUNOS DICEN QUE ES MEJOR SV QUE SIRVE MUCHO EN RAIDS, INSTANCIAS, ARENAS, OTROS DICEN QUE ME HAGA DE MM QUE ES UTIL PARA PVP, BGS Y OTROS DICEN QUE BM ME SIRVE MUCHO PARA LAS GBS Y PVP
thanks
great read… but i really need help …
I would like to know as BM what stats i need besides agility… is it haste, mastery, crit.. i can’t seem to find this information anywhere
1. agility
2. crit
3. mastery
4. haste
…in that order. 🙂
Just food for thought….I have been testing out the “All Mastery” route for my BM hunter. The theory is that it gives your pet even more power, especially when chasing that pesky, pillar-humping healer. It seems to be working out well thus far (about 3 weeks now) in both BGs (rated and unrated) and arenas (mostly 2s and 3s). I can’t say I have seen a dramatic increase in DPS overall (definitely no loss!), but of late I seem to be doing better in arena in terms of consistency and win percentage. Whether this is due to the change to all Mastery, pure chance, or just the eventual improvement in my play is hard to say. However, it seems to work well and also works for those of us who might also have a SV hunter. Mastery boosts SV hunter’s shots significantly.
For sure, Crit is a safe, accepted way to go for BM, but you might want to give the gemming/reforging to Mastery a try too…
I’ve also gone the all mastery route for bgs. it works well. i’m also using the matrix restabilizer trink for a good boost in mastery.
As a BM hunter our main Feat of Strength is our pet.
Resiliance>5%Hit>195 Spell Penetration>Agility>Mastery>Haste>Crit.
Being Bm your going to have 20-27% crit reguardless.
Haste as noted above doesnt have a large effect on us as we Have Fevor to replenish also pasive regeneration while setting traps/feign death/deterence etc.
Mastery is where our main source of Dps comes from (our pet). Having your pet kill a rogue in its own smoke bomb is what we want lads. This is by far the best spec i have used to date and probably wont change till MOP: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#cfhfckhdRRofM It leaves 3 points spare and id recommend putting them in the SV tree for either the 3 Point haste or 15% Stamina. Hope this helps guys. #BeastialWrath#poptrink#popneeringglovetinker#spamarcaneshot+killcommandoncobrastrikes#noobs=dead.
Actually, I believe the order of priority would be this (in the case of an emphasis on Mastery):
%5 hit cap > 195 spell pen > agility/resilience > resilience/agility > Mastery > Crit > Haste
I intertwine agility and resilience in the equation because it depends on how much damage you want to do versus how much damage reduction you want. Currently, I prefer the increased resilience, especially since I am doing a few more arena of late, however I find them both very important and recommend a balance between the two if you run a lot of BGs too. Of course, this comes from a hunter who is currently reforged for a crit priority….but may switch back to mastery again…out of sheer boredom…lol
I like you BM suggestion for PVP, and almsot had the exact spec myself. I did trade in Pathing for Efficiency and noticed a good pickup on that. However, I think you would be better off with Kindred Spirits than Killing Streak. Killing Streak is just to hard to land the timing right for pvp. For me, it leaves me distracted and not making the correct decisions just to land that Kill Command before the timer runs out. Just as 3 focus doesn’t seem like much with Efficiency, 10 for Kindred Spirits doesn’t seem like that much either, but it can mean the differency between a killing blow and them getting away. Just food for thought. Would love to hear arguments otherwise.
Since you only get +10 max energy, that 10 energy is only available in your opener. If you are fighting, you should never cap your energy. That stands to say that unless you are gonna burst them to 0% in the opener, that 10 energy wont have any effect towards inproving kill chance, while the reduced KC energy can allow you to use it earlier from an empty bar, and hopefully kill before the heal goes off, they get away, etc.
A couple of suggested tweaks:
1. Concussive Shot is indeed a good option for BGs.
2. I think Pathing would ALWAYS be a bad choice for BM PVP. Haste is just not as useful most of the time in PVP, as we get a larger portion of our Focus from passive regen as we chase targets down. Take a look at how much less you use Cobra Shot in PVP versus how much you would use it in PVE.
Glad to see that you liked my suggestions on a BM build for PVP!
Hardly use Scare Beast? What do you do against all the flipping bloody Feral Druids infesting battlegrounds these days? It’s pretty much a requirement for me when facing one of them.
Scare Beast is a staple in BGs when facing Feral Druids, or BM hunter pets…
Would you use this same build for Arenas? In your previous post about this a person recommended that I go with 7 talents in the MM tree (GftT, Ef, SE and in SV 3 HvW for Arenas. That’s not their BM build though so color me confused. Not sure but it appears their primary is now MM. The majority of our under represented PvP class seem to run MM with a monkey or spider for pretty obvious reasons I spose. That doesn’t really help me given I can’t be bothered to learn MM 😉 As you said, it’s not like BM has much wiggle room for either BG’s or Arena.
So, if you’re playing BM all the time, what build would you suggest for Arenas?
I suggested you use the the 7 points of MM talents in Arena for 2s, and perhaps 3s. My talents are more built for Rated BGs, and 5s. I don’t really play 2s seriously, and I’m currently using my MM spec for 3s. I’ve used the BM spec I suggested for 2s and 3s in the past.
I hope that eases your confusion.
If BG’s are you’re main point of interest, I recommend trying the concussive shot glyph. I find it extremely useful in catching mounted players, and it totally nullifies abilities like sprint or dash.
What it does: it makes sure what it hit’s moves at 50% speed, no mater what buffs they have.
I’ve recently converted to this glyph as well and find it quite useful.