Beast Mastery Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, Talents, and Pet Talents — Dragonflight 10.2.6

Last updated on Mar 19, 2024 at 18:50 by Azortharion 117 comments
General Information

On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Beast Mastery Hunter in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.6. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.

If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Beast Mastery Hunter talents.

1.

Best Dragonflight Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter

Note that these builds are generic recommendations for various content. Check out the dedicated pages below for more specific recommendations for the Raid and Mythic+.

2.

Best Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter

Single-Target Talents Dire Pack Single-Target Talents Raid AoE/Mythic+ Talents Talents Explained
3.

Best Single-Target Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter

This build is optimal for pure single-target situations.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

3.

Best Dire Pack Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter

This build is optimal for some characters, namely ones with lower Crit and higher Mastery. The difference between this and the standard build does not tend to exceed ~0.5%, so they can be thought of as a matter of preference. This build is less bursty and has inferior Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion scaling to the regular build, so if these factors apply to you, I would not recommend a Dire Pack Build.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

3.

Best Mythic+ and AoE Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter

This is our recommended build for AoE scenarios, such as Mythic+, and Raid AoE Talents. Note that the Class Tree is more flexible, and that your choices can vary depending on the needs (or lack thereof) of particular encounters and dungeons. The preset below is a generic Mythic+ setup that covers most situations.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

3.

Talent Explanations for Beast Mastery Hunters

Note that we do not explain EVERY Talent in the tree on this page. We only explain Talents that are part of our optimal builds for single-target and AoE. For full details and explanations of every Talent, please visit our Spells page via the button below.

3.1.

Class Talents

3.1.1.

Row 1-4

Kill Shot Icon Kill ShotA strong DPS button and a mandatory pick.
Posthaste Icon PosthasteEssential as one of our strongest mobility talents.
Improved Kill Shot Icon Improved Kill ShotA passive, powerful increase to our Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot's damage.
Counter Shot Icon Counter ShotOur main interrupt.
Natural Mending Icon Natural MendingProvides incredible CDR to Exhilaration Icon Exhilaration and is a must-pick for survivability. If you are not using Exhilaration Icon Exhilaration very liberally, you can get away with dropping a point here for other utility.
Tar Trap Icon Tar TrapNot great, but it leads us on a path to better talents, as we need to get to the left side of the tree later on.
Survival of the Fittest Icon Survival of the FittestA strong defensive for both one-shots and powerful DoTs.
3.1.2.

Row 5-7

Tranquilizing Shot Icon Tranquilizing ShotUseful for many scenarios and leads us to better talents on the left side of the tree.
Nature's Endurance Icon Nature's EnduranceA must-pick, as it doubles the damage reduction of Survival of the Fittest Icon Survival of the Fittest.
Born To Be Wild Icon Born To Be WildA solid pick for lower Turtle and Cheetah cooldowns, making it strong for both survivability and mobility.
Improved Tranquilizing Shot Icon Improved Tranquilizing ShotA bit of an incentive to Tranquilizing Shot Icon Tranquilizing Shot when we can, and leads us nicely to the left side of the tree, which becomes important.
Intimidation Icon IntimidationHugely useful for add control in Mythic+ and some Raiding scenarios.
Binding Shot Icon Binding Shot/Scatter Shot Icon Scatter ShotBoth viable options in this choice node are necessary to pick up other essential Talents. For most Mythic+, we recommend Binding Shot Icon Binding Shot, but Scatter Shot Icon Scatter Shot can be used as a single-target cast stopper, similar to Intimidation Icon Intimidation.
Rejuvenating Wind Icon Rejuvenating WindIncreases our maximum health and gives our Exhilaration Icon Exhilaration some extra power, which can be useful or weak depending on how liberal you are with Exhilaration Icon Exhilaration usage. This is mandatory for the maximum HP.
Camouflage Icon CamouflageUseful for skips and out-of-combat self-healing in Mythic+, but it has no use for Raiding.
Hunter's Avoidance Icon Hunter's AvoidanceA much-needed boost to our survivability on unavoidable mechanics.
Pathfinding Icon PathfindingA solid boost to movement speed, but you can drop a point here to pick up other utilities as needed.
3.1.3.

Row 8-10

Beast Master Icon Beast MasterA substantial DPS increase and is a mandatory pick.
Keen Eyesight Icon Keen EyesightA potent DPS increase and is a mandatory pick.
Master Marksman Icon Master MarksmanA substantial DPS increase and is a mandatory pick.
Improved Kill Command Icon Improved Kill CommandA considerable DPS increase and is a mandatory pick.
Serrated Shots Icon Serrated ShotsAffects Barbed Shot Icon Barbed Shot and is a potent DPS talent.
Alpha Predator Icon Alpha PredatorOffers flexibility in our rotation as we are not hard-locked to casting Kill Command Icon Kill Command on cooldown.
Death Chakram Icon Death ChakramIntroduces a mini-cooldown to our rotation, enhancing our burst a little and focusing on amplifying other damage.
3.2.

Spec Talents

3.2.1.

Row 1-4

Cobra Shot Icon Cobra ShotOne of our core abilities and mandatory to progress.
Pack Tactics Icon Pack Tactics and Barbed Shot Icon Barbed ShotAlso fundamental to our spec and are necessary to continue.
Multi-Shot Icon Multi-Shot/Beast Cleave Icon Beast Cleave/Kill Cleave Icon Kill CleaveOur AoE talents, the main ones that differentiate our single-target build from our AoE build. We choose these whenever a scenario has relevant AoE to do at a significant but worthwhile single-target DPS loss.
Aspect of the Beast Icon Aspect of the BeastThis only improves the damage to your pet's Basic Attack (Claw Icon Claw/Bite Icon Bite/Smack Icon Smack) but still represents a sizable DPS increase and leads us further in our tree.
Training Expert Icon Training ExpertOne of our most vital per-point talents and mandatory.
Animal Companion Icon Animal CompanionA significant DPS increase despite reducing the overall DPS of our main pet by 35%. The doubling of Kill Command Icon Kill Command, Stomp Icon Stomp, and pet auto-attack damage more than makes up for this. To change the visuals of your secondary pet, change the top-left pet at a Stable Master.
Killer Command Icon Killer CommandImproves the damage of our strongest button and is always a worthwhile pick.
3.2.2.

Row 5-7

3.2.3.

Row 8-10

Thrill of the Hunt Icon Thrill of the HuntShines in longer encounters where you can reliably maintain 3 stacks of Frenzy Icon Frenzy (and therefore also the Talent's buff) for long periods. The Crit from the Talent will give additional Wild Call Icon Wild Call procs, making it even easier to maintain once you get 4 stacks to begin with.
Bloodshed Icon BloodshedA powerful single-target button, enhancing our burst by a little, and is great for any single-target focused encounter. This is usually exclusive to our single-target build.
Dire Beast Icon Dire BeastA strong single-target button.
Bestial Wrath Icon Bestial WrathOur primary cooldown, if you can call it that. In practice, its cooldown is around 30 seconds and sometimes even shorter, as explained below.
War Orders Icon War OrdersGives us significantly more Kill Command Icon Kill Commands as we regularly hit our Barbed Shot Icon Barbed Shots, one of our most powerful talents.
Stomp Icon StompExtremely powerful, especially on AoE, and will happen automatically as you cast Barbed Shot Icon Barbed Shot constantly as part of your normal rotation.
Barbed Wrath Icon Barbed WrathThis is what allows our Bestial Wrath Icon Bestial Wrath to have upwards of 50% uptime. Pair this with Wild Call Icon Wild Call and Thrill of the Hunt Icon Thrill of the Hunt and a decent amount of Crit from our gear, and we can cast Bestial Wrath Icon Bestial Wrath more as a rotational button than a cooldown.
Wild Call Icon Wild CallGives us regular resets of Barbed Shot Icon Barbed Shot's cooldown, which fuels increased Frenzy Icon Frenzy uptime, Thrill of the Hunt Icon Thrill of the Hunt uptime, and Barbed Wrath Icon Barbed Wrath cooldown reduction, making it one of the pillars of any Beast Mastery Hunter build.
Savagery Icon Savagerywill make the maintenance of Frenzy Icon Frenzy/Thrill of the Hunt Icon Thrill of the Hunt trivially easy.
Dire Command Icon Dire CommandMore potent than it appears on the DPS meter since having a Beast active also improves Haste by 5%, inheriting the effect from the Dire Beast Icon Dire Beast Talent.
Scent of Blood Icon Scent of BloodGives us additional Barbed Shot Icon Barbed Shots to enhance the effects mentioned above of Wild Call Icon Wild Call and more. You should try to dump your Barbed Shot Icon Barbed Shot before using Bestial Wrath Icon Bestial Wrath to harness the power of this Talent.
Master Handler Icon Master HandlerEncourages multidotting with Barbed Shot Icon Barbed Shot for Kill Command Icon Kill Command CDR.
Dire Frenzy Icon Dire FrenzyA potent enhancer of the Dire Beast Icon Dire Beast/Dire Command Icon Dire Command effects and leads us on to one of our most vital single-target talents.
Brutal Companion Icon Brutal CompanionThis proc even when you are refreshing an existing 3-stack of Frenzy Icon Frenzy, enhancing our single-target and cleave significantly, as these empowered Basic Attacks (Claw Icon Claw/Bite Icon Bite/Smack Icon Smack) also contribute to Beast Cleave Icon Beast Cleave. A powerful AoE talent, but weak for single-target.
Dire Pack Icon Dire PackThis can be thought of as a cooldown, as its effect can be predicted using this WeakAura, allowing us to almost spam Kill Command Icon Kill Commands back-to-back when it procs. This will spawn more Dire Beast Icon Dire Beasts, giving more Dire Pack Icon Dire Pack procs, leading to a cascading, positive feedback loop that is powerful and tons of fun to play.
Piercing Fangs Icon Piercing FangsA compelling, passive DPS increase, especially with the low cooldown of Bestial Wrath Icon Bestial Wrath that we have.
3.3.

Mythic+

Depending on affixes and other variables, Mythic+ can require a mix of AoE and Single-Target talents. You should check out our page below if you want advice specific to Mythic+.

4.

Rotation for Beast Mastery Hunter Talents

Some talents will require you to play in a particular way to get the most out of them. You can find more information on how your rotation will look after selecting your talents on our rotation page below.

5.

Best Pet for Beast Mastery Hunter in Dragonflight

We have made a dedicated page for Hunter Pets information that we recommend you check out!

6.

PvP Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter in Dragonflight

War Mode offers several benefits for you in the open world.

  • PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
  • At least 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
  • 10% more experience gained while leveling.
  • Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will be available for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

6.1.

PvP Talents (War Mode) for Beast Mastery Hunter

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of all PvP Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter

6.2.

Best PvP Talents for Beast Mastery Hunter

  1. Dire Beast: Hawk Icon 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 Icon 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 much health.
  3. Chimaeral Sting Icon 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 essentially down to preference.

For details on how to play in Beast Mastery Hunter PvP, please visit our Beast Mastery Hunter PvP page.

7.

Changelog

  • 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.5
  • 03 Jan. 2024: Updated the Raid and Mythic+ AoE Builds in light of recent discoveries.
  • 23 Dec. 2023: Updated the Mythic+/AoE Talents to have a new, Tyrannical/single-target focused AoE build.
  • 06 Dec. 2023: Updated the Mythic+ Build. Removed T30 Builds to reduce clutter, and because the new T31 Builds are extremely similar anyway. Added the Dire Pack build back as an alternative build.
  • 04 Dec. 2023: Updated with new builds accounting for recent changes.
  • 24 Nov. 2023: Swapped back the AoE/Mythic+ Build.
  • 18 Nov. 2023: Small update to the AoE/Mythic+ Build. Same DPS, but nicer to play.
  • 12 Nov. 2023: Updated the recommended AoE/Mythic+ build.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7
  • 15 Aug. 2023: Restructured the page.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 19 May 2023: Updated the layout of the page.
  • 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 12 Dec. 2022: Added a note that you should not use Wailing Arrow for AoE fights in the raid.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 01 Nov. 2022: Earlier changes reverted due to a simulation bug.
  • 01 Nov. 2022: Updated the recommended Mythic+/AoE Talents in light of recent 10% nerf to BM.
  • 30 Oct. 2022: Updated the optimal Mythic+/AoE Talents.
  • 27 Oct. 2022: Updated optimal Class Tree talents.
  • 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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