Hunter Hero Talents — The War Within (11.2)

This page is specifically about Hero Talents in The War Within. If you want to learn more about the best regular talents for Beast Mastery Hunter, check out our Talents page:

As of September 9th's buffs, Dark Ranger is massively ahead for all things single-target, by upwards of 6.5%, and with a more bursty DPS profile and better defensive profile.

Pack Leader has fantastic AoE damage and priority-target damage while doing AoE, but its pure single-target is lackluster, and that is the most important metric for raid performance.

Both Hero Talents are very close in outright numbers on paper, but Dark Ranger provides much of the same strengths as Pack Leader, but in a more convenient "damage profile". Dark Ranger is extremely bursty on a 1-minute cooldown, while Pack Leader has minimal burst and has long ramp-up times; generally less convenient. For this reason, I recommend Dark Ranger for most people in most situations.

2.

Best Hero Talent Builds for Beast Mastery Hunter

Pack Leader Build Dark Ranger Build

2.

Best Pack Leader Build for Beast Mastery Hunter

Pack Leader is very straightforward to build, with the same setup being optimal for nearly all scenarios. The only real flex pick here might be Horsehair Tether, which you can swap to Slicked Shoes when and as needed, but it is a pretty minor effect.

2.

Best Dark Ranger Build for Beast Mastery Hunter

Dark Ranger chooses Ebon Bowstring on anything that isn't heavy AoE.

Pack Leader, when combined with its Tier Set, does have some implications for how you play. Mainly, it is that after you press Bestial Wrath followed by a Kill Command, you will summon a Stampede that is aimed in a straight line from your character. Aiming this line at the center of a clump of mobs/the boss is essential, and ideally, you do not want to be too far away when this happens either.

In addition, due to the 4PC Stampede spawning whenever you summon a beast during Lead From the Front, is ideal to try and maximize your Beast summons during the first 12 seconds of Bestial Wrath. In practice, this means that you will often hold Bestial Wrath if you have more than 17 seconds remaining on Howl of the Pack Leader's cooldown. This ensures that you get two Beast summons inside the first 12 seconds of your Bestial Wrath; one from the guaranteed Howl from Bestial Wrath, and another from the natural occurrence of Howl of the Pack Leader coming up shortly after popping Bestial Wrath. Yeah, hopefully they fix this.

Dark Ranger replaces Kill Shot with the much stronger Black Arrow. Casting Kill Command will regularly grant Black Arrow procs that should be used constantly.