Beast Mastery Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, Talents, and Pet Talents — Midnight Season 1

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

1.1.

Beast Mastery Hunter Talent Builds

Single-Target — Pack Leader Raid AoE — Dark Ranger Mythic+ — Dark Ranger Delves — Dark Ranger Single-Target — Dark Ranger Mythic+ — Pack Leader

1.1.1.

Pack Leader Single-Target Talents

This build is our best Pack Leader single-target build, used for pure single-target scenarios.

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

1.1.2.

Dark Ranger Raid AoE Talents

This build is our best Dark Ranger Raid AoE build, optimized to grab as much burst AoE and priority-target damage as possible for only a modest single-target DPS loss.

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

1.1.3.

Dark Ranger Mythic+ Talents

This is the optimal Dark Ranger build for all things Mythic+, and other AoE-focused content. It is based on extensive simulation and analysis of Mythic+ performance across a wide variety of scenarios, and has an optimal blend of both single-target and AoE. There are builds that do more AoE, but they all lose more single-target than they gain in terms of AoE, and vice versa.

1.1.4.

Beast Mastery Hunter Utility Talent Considerations

Not all Utility Talents are relevant for every dungeon. We have created these Talent builds under the assumption that you are not going to be very dilligent about swapping talents on a per-dungeon basis. However, the goal is to never be left at a disadvantage by not lacking a super impactful Talent for a particular dungeon. This means we do omit some occasionally useful picks.

• Your "flexible" Talent points are, in our recommended order of most disposable:
  • Misdirection only affects your personal threat, so it is quite weak for us.
  • Kodo Tranquilizer
  • Emergency Salve is only useful in certain dungeons, and is worthless in others.

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

1.1.5.

Dark Ranger Delve Talents

This is the optimal Dark Ranger build for all things Delves. It is overwhelmingly similar to our Mythic+ build.

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

1.1.6.

Best Dark Ranger Single-Target Talents

This build is our best Dark Ranger single-target build, used for most raid encounters.

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

1.1.7.

Pack Leader Mythic+ Talents

This is the optimal Pack Leader build for all things Mythic+, and other AoE-focused content. It is based on extensive simulation and analysis of Mythic+ performance across a wide variety of scenarios, and has an optimal blend of both single-target and AoE. There are builds that do more AoE, but they all lose more single-target than they gain in terms of AoE, and vice versa.

1.1.8.

Beast Mastery Hunter Utility Talent Considerations

Not all Utility Talents are relevant for every dungeon. We have created these Talent builds under the assumption that you are not going to be very dilligent about swapping talents on a per-dungeon basis. However, the goal is to never be left at a disadvantage by not lacking a super impactful Talent for a particular dungeon. This means we do omit some occasionally useful picks.

• Your "flexible" Talent points are, in our recommended order of most disposable:
  • Misdirection only affects your personal threat, so it is quite weak for us.
  • Kodo Tranquilizer
  • Emergency Salve is only useful in certain dungeons, and is worthless in others.

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

Midnight introduces new Apex Talents, unlocked between Level 80 and 90. Beast Mastery gets:

1. Nature's Ally
2. Nature's Ally
3. Nature's Ally

These make Bestial Wrath deal a significant chunk of damage, instead of just being a passive damage buff. The last point also incentivizes never using Kill Command twice in a row; you should always use a filler ability like Barbed Shot or Cobra Shot in between.

Available at level 71 Hero talents are mutually exclusive trees you can choose to slightly alter gameplay and visuals. Beast Mastery Hunter can choose between Dark Ranger and Pack Leader.

Dark Ranger gives you Black Arrow, which deals heavy damage. In addition to being freely usable (with a 10-second cooldown) on targets above 80% or below 20% HP, you will regularly get procs from it from Kill Command and Barbed Shot that allow it to be used on any target at any time. These procs are not an especially high priority, falling between Kill Command and Barbed Shot for the most part. Dark Ranger can be thought of as "Beast Mastery with an extra button" for the most part. When you activate Bestial Wrath, the button itself will turn into Wailing Arrow, which does heavy damage and gives you a Black Arrow proc.

Defensively, Dark Ranger offers Smoke Screen, which is simply amazing, as it gives us extremely easy access to Survival of the Fittest nearly all the time.

Numbers-wise, Dark Ranger is just behind Pack Leader for pure single-target, but it has a bit more sustained AoE and priority-target damage. It also has a stronger defensive profile. Overall, it is slightly better than Pack Leader in high Mythic+ where packs live for a long time.

Pack Leader is our simplest Hero Talent, adding almost nothing in terms of gameplay intrigue. Occasionally, your Kill Command will trigger a Beast via Howl of the Pack Leader. These Beasts simply do damage, or increase your damage done. In addition, your first Kill Command after Bestial Wrath will summon a Stampede; a line of pets that do heavy AoE damage to all targets caught within. We detail its usage more on our rotation page.

Defensively, Pack Leader gives us Shell Cover, which buffs the effectiveness of our Survival of the Fittest. Not great.

Numbers-wise, Pack Leader is optimal for pure single-target, but falls behind in every other category of damage, though the gaps are small.

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.

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

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 much 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 essentially down to preference.

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